Topological phases of inhomogeneous superconductivity

Silas Hoffman, Jelena Klinovaja, and Daniel Loss
Phys. Rev. B 93, 165418 – Published 15 April 2016

Abstract

We theoretically consider the effect of a spatially periodic modulation of the superconducting order parameter on the formation of Majorana fermions induced by a one-dimensional system with magnetic impurities brought into close proximity to an s-wave superconductor. When the magnetic exchange energy is larger than the inter-impurity electron hopping we model the effective system as a chain of coupled Shiba states, while in the opposite regime, the effective system is accurately described by a quantum wire model. Upon including a spatially modulated superconducting pairing, we find, for sufficiently large magnetic exchange energy, that the system is able to support a single pair of Majorana fermions with one Majorana fermion on the left end of the system and one on the right end. When the modulation of superconductivity is large compared to the magnetic exchange energy, the Shiba chain returns to a trivially gapped regime while the quantum wire enters a new topological phase capable of supporting two pairs of Majorana fermions.

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  • Received 17 January 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.93.165418

©2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Silas Hoffman, Jelena Klinovaja, and Daniel Loss

  • Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland

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Issue

Vol. 93, Iss. 16 — 15 April 2016

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