Orbital Contributions to the Electron g Factor in Semiconductor Nanowires

Recent experiments on Majorana fermions in semiconductor nanowires [S. M. Albrecht, A. P. Higginbotham, M. Madsen, F. Kuemmeth, T. S. Jespersen, J. Nygård, P. Krogstrup, and C. M. Marcus, Nature (London) 531, 206 (2016)NATUAS0028-083610.1038/nature17162] revealed a surprisingly large electronic Landé g factor, several times larger than the bulk value - contrary to the expectation that confinement reduces the g factor. Here we assess the role of orbital contributions to the electron g factor in nanowires and quantum dots. We show that an L·S coupling in higher subbands leads to an enhancement of the g factor of an order of magnitude or more for small effective mass semiconductors. We validate our theoretical finding with simulations of InAs and InSb, showing that the effect persists even if cylindrical symmetry is broken. A huge anisotropy of the enhanced g factors under magnetic field rotation allows for a straightforward experimental test of this theory.QRD/Kouwenhoven La

Unified numerical approach to topological semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures

We develop a unified numerical approach for modeling semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures. All the key physical ingredients of these systems - orbital effect of magnetic field, superconducting proximity effect, and electrostatic environment - are taken into account on equal footing in a realistic device geometry. As a model system, we consider indium arsenide (InAs) nanowires with an epitaxial aluminum (Al) shell, which is one of the most promising platforms for Majorana zero modes. We demonstrate qualitative and quantitative agreement of the obtained results with the existing experimental data. Finally, we characterize the topological superconducting phase emerging in a finite magnetic field and calculate the corresponding topological phase diagram.QRD/Wimmer La