Shot noise in a Majorana fermion chain

We calculate the shot noise power in a junction of a network of Majorana bound states (MBS) with a normal metal. These Majorana bound states are on the border of alternative ferromagnetic and superconducting regions at the quantum spin Hall insulator edge. We analyze different realization of MBS networks including a few isolated ones or in a chain allowing for the limit of weak and strong tunneling. The conductance, as well as the shot noise are considerably stronger than those of a weakly coupled normal-superconduting junction, being a hallmark of the MBS. We find that the Fano factor is quantized $F=2$ when one MBS member of a pair is coupled to the lead, however if both MBS members are coupled $F$ is non-integer.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Josephson glass and decoupling of flux lattices in layered superconductors

Phase transitions of a flux lattice in layered superconductors with magnetic field perpendicular to the layers and in presence of disorder are studied. We find that the Josephson coupling between layers leads to a strongly pinned Josephson glass (JG) phase at low temperatures and fields. The JG phase undergoes either a decoupling transition with increasing field or a depinning transition with increasing temperature. The resulting phases undergo further depinning and decoupling transitions, respectively, resulting in a phase diagram with a multicritical point where four phases meet. The phase diagram accounts for unusual data on Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8 such as the "second peak" transition and the recently observed depinning transitions.Comment: 5 pages, 1 eps figure, Revtex, Phys. Rev. Lett. (submitted

A model for the ESR-STM phenomenon

We propose a model to account for the observed ESR-like signal at the Larmor frequency in the current noise STM experiments identifying spin centers on various substrates. The theoretical understanding of this phenomenon, which allows for single spin detection on surfaces at room temperature, is not settled for the experimentally relevant case that the tip and substrate are not spin polarized. Our model is based on a direct tip-substrate tunneling in parallel with a current flowing via the spin states. We find a sharp signal at the Larmor frequency even at high temperatures, in good agreement with experimental data. We also evaluate the noise in presence of an ac field near resonance and predict splitting of the signal by the Rabi frequency.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Disorder induced transitions in layered Coulomb gases and application to flux lattices in superconductors

A layered system of charges with logarithmic interaction parallel to the layers and random dipoles in each layer is studied via a variational method and an energy rationale. These methods reproduce the known phase diagram for a single layer where charges unbind by increasing either temperature or disorder, as well as a freezing first order transition within the ordered phase. Increasing interlayer coupling leads to successive transitions in which charge rods correlated in N>1 neighboring layers are unbounded by weaker disorder. Increasing disorder leads to transitions between different N phases. The method is applied to flux lattices in layered superconductors in the limit of vanishing Josephson coupling. The unbinding charges are point defects in the flux lattice, i.e. vacancies or interstitials. We show that short range disorder generates random dipoles for these defects. We predict and accurately locate a disorder-induced defect-unbinding transition with loss of superconducting order, upon increase of disorder. While N=1 charges dominate for most system parameters, we propose that in multi-layer superconductors defect rods can be realized.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figure