Proximity-induced Majorana hinge modes in antiferromagnetic topological insulators

Yang Peng and Yong Xu
Phys. Rev. B 99, 195431 – Published 17 May 2019

Abstract

We propose a realization of chiral Majorana modes propagating on the hinges of a 3D antiferromagnetic topological insulator, which was recently theoretically predicted and experimentally confirmed in the tetradymite-type MnBi2Te4-related ternary chalgogenides. These materials consist of ferromagnetically ordered 2D layers, whose magnetization direction alternates between neighboring layers, forming an antiferromagnetic order. Besides surfaces with a magnetic gap, there also exist gapless surfaces with a single Dirac cone, which can be gapped out when proximity coupled to an s-wave superconductor. On the sharing edges between the two types of gapped surfaces, the chiral Majorana modes emerge. We further propose experimental signatures of these Majoana hinge modes in terms of two-terminal conductance measurements.

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  • Received 27 September 2018
  • Revised 1 May 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.99.195431

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Yang Peng1,2,* and Yong Xu3,4,5

  • 1Institute of Quantum Information and Matter and Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
  • 2Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
  • 3State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China
  • 4Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China
  • 5RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan

  • *Corresponding author: yangpeng@caltech.edu

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Issue

Vol. 99, Iss. 19 — 15 May 2019

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