Robustness of Majorana bound states in the short-junction limit

Doru Sticlet, Bas Nijholt, and Anton Akhmerov
Phys. Rev. B 95, 115421 – Published 17 March 2017
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Abstract

We study the effects of strong coupling between a superconductor and a semiconductor nanowire on the creation of the Majorana bound states, when the quasiparticle dwell time in the normal part of the nanowire is much shorter than the inverse superconducting gap. This “short-junction” limit is relevant for the recent experiments using the epitaxially grown aluminum characterized by a transparent interface with the semiconductor and a small superconducting gap. We find that the small superconducting gap does not have a strong detrimental effect on the Majorana properties. Specifically, both the critical magnetic field required for creating a topological phase and the size of the Majorana bound states are independent of the superconducting gap. The critical magnetic field scales with the wire cross section, while the relative importance of the orbital and Zeeman effects of the magnetic field is controlled by the material parameters only: g factor, effective electron mass, and the semiconductor-superconductor interface transparency.

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  • Received 15 September 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.95.115421

©2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Doru Sticlet, Bas Nijholt, and Anton Akhmerov

  • Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 4056, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands

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Issue

Vol. 95, Iss. 11 — 15 March 2017

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