Crystalline-Symmetry-Protected Helical Majorana Modes in the Iron Pnictides

Elio J. König and Piers Coleman
Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 207001 – Published 24 May 2019
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Abstract

We propose that propagating one-dimensional Majorana fermions will develop in the vortex cores of certain iron-based superconductors, most notably Li(Fe1xCox)As. A key ingredient of this proposal is the 3D Dirac cones recently observed in photoemission experiments [P. Zhang et al., Nat. Phys. 15, 41 (2019)]. Using an effective Hamiltonian around the ΓZ line we demonstrate the development of gapless one-dimensional helical Majorana modes, protected by C4 symmetry. A topological index is derived which links the helical Majorana modes to the presence of monopoles in the Berry curvature of the normal state. We present various experimental consequences of this theory and discuss its possible connections with cosmic strings.

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  • Received 10 February 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.207001

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Elio J. König1 and Piers Coleman1,2

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Center for Materials Theory, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United Kingdom

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Issue

Vol. 122, Iss. 20 — 24 May 2019

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