Supercurrent as a Probe for Topological Superconductivity in Magnetic Adatom Chains

A magnetic adatom chain, proximity coupled to a conventional superconductor with spin-orbit coupling, exhibits locally an odd-parity, spin-triplet pairing amplitude. We show that the singlet-triplet junction, thus formed, leads to a net spin accumulation in the near vicinity of the chain. The accumulated spins are polarized along the direction of the local $\mathbf{d}$-vector for triplet pairing and generate an enhanced persistent current flowing around the chain. The spin polarization and the "supercurrent" reverse their directions beyond a critical exchange coupling strength at which the singlet superconducting order changes its sign on the chain. The current is strongly enhanced in the topological superconducting regime where Majorana bound states appear at the chain ends. The current and the spin profile offer alternative routes to characterize the topological superconducting state in adatom chains and islands.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 5 pages of supplemental material

Supercurrent and phase signatures of topological superconductivity in planar Josephson junctions

We consider planar Josephson junctions, with dimensions as used in recent experiments, and show using numerical calculations that the junctions undergo topological superconducting transition, revealed by the appearance of zero-energy Majorana bound states at the ends of the non-superconducting channel of the junctions in the presence of an in-plane magnetic field and $\pi$ phase difference between the superconducting leads. Our main finding is that, under realistic parameter settings, the critical supercurrent undergoes a minimum and the ground state phase increases from zero toward $\pi$ at a critical field, without the junctions necessarily transitioning into a topological superconducting phase. Remarkably, the critical supercurrent minimum and a simultaneous sharp jump in the ground state phase appear in junctions that are undoubtedly in trivial superconducting phase. Our results provide updated insights for experimental detection of topological superconductivity in planar Josephson junctions using the supercurrent and phase signatures.Comment: Comments are welcom

Skyrmion Control of Majorana States in Planar Josephson Junctions

Planar Josephson junctions provide a versatile platform, alternative to the nanowire-based geometry, for the generation of the Majorana bound states, due to the additional phase tunability of the topological superconductivity. The proximity induction of chiral magnetism and superconductivity in a two-dimensional electron gas showed remarkable promises to manipulate topological superconductivity. Here, we consider a Josephson junction involving a skyrmion crystal and show that the chiral magnetism of the skyrmions can create and control the Majorana bound states without the requirement of an intrinsic Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Interestingly, the Majorana bound states in our geometry are realized robustly at zero phase difference at the junction. The skyrmion radius, being externally tunable by a magnetic field or a magnetic anisotropy, brings a unique control feature for the Majorana bound states

Majorana fusion in interacting one-dimensional Kitaev chains

We employ a time-dependent real-space local density-of-states method to study the movement and fusion of Majorana zero modes in the 1D interacting Kitaev model, based on the time evolution of many-body states. We study the dynamics and both fusion channels of Majoranas using time-dependent potentials, either {\it Wall} or {\it Well}, focusing on the local density-of-states and charge-density of fermions varying with time. For a {\it Wall}, i.e. repulsive strong potential, after fusion of Majoranas the electron (or hole) forms at $\omega=0$, whereas for a {\it Well}, i.e. attractive deep potential, electron (or hole) forms at $\omega \sim -V$, where $V$ is the Coulomb repulsion. We also describe specific upper and lower limits on the Majorana movement needed to reduce non-adiabatic effects as well as to avoid poisoning due to decoherence, focusing on forming a full electron (or hole) after the fusion.Comment: 5 figure

In-gap features in superconducting LaAlO3_3-SrTiO3_3 interfaces observed by tunneling spectroscopy

We identified quasiparticle states at well-defined energies inside the superconducting gap of the electron system at the LaAlO$_3$-SrTiO$_3$ interface using tunneling spectroscopy. The states are found only in a number of samples and depend upon the thermal-cycling history of the samples. The states consist of a peak at zero energy and other peaks at finite energies, symmetrically placed around zero energy. These peaks disappear, together with the superconducting gap, with increasing temperature and magnetic field. We discuss the likelihood of various physical mechanisms that are known to cause in-gap states in superconductors and conclude that none of these mechanisms can easily explain the results. The conceivable scenarios are the formation of Majorana bound states, Andreev bound states, or the presence of an odd-frequency spin triplet component in the superconducting order parameter.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure