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Majorana fermions in topological-insulator nanowires : From single superconducting nanowires to Josephson junctions

Huang, Guang Yao and Xu, H. Q. LU (2017) In Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics 95(15).
Abstract

Signatures of Majorana-fermion bound states in one-dimensional topological-insulator (TI) nanowires with proximity-effect-induced superconductivity are studied. The phase diagram and energy spectra are calculated for single-TI nanowires, and it is shown that the nanowires can be in the topologically invariant phases of winding numbers W=0,±1, and ±2, corresponding to the cases with zero, one, and two pairs of Majorana fermions in the single-TI nanowires. It is also shown that the topological winding numbers, i.e., the numbers of pairs of Majorana fermions in the TI nanowires, can be extracted from the transport measurements of a Josephson-junction device made from two TI nanowires, while the sign in the winding numbers can be extracted... (More)

Signatures of Majorana-fermion bound states in one-dimensional topological-insulator (TI) nanowires with proximity-effect-induced superconductivity are studied. The phase diagram and energy spectra are calculated for single-TI nanowires, and it is shown that the nanowires can be in the topologically invariant phases of winding numbers W=0,±1, and ±2, corresponding to the cases with zero, one, and two pairs of Majorana fermions in the single-TI nanowires. It is also shown that the topological winding numbers, i.e., the numbers of pairs of Majorana fermions in the TI nanowires, can be extracted from the transport measurements of a Josephson-junction device made from two TI nanowires, while the sign in the winding numbers can be extracted using a superconducting quantum interference device setup.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
volume
95
issue
15
article number
155420
publisher
American Physical Society
external identifiers
  • scopus:85017641732
  • wos:000401764100003
ISSN
1098-0121
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevB.95.155420
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3f1efdf5-f3e0-4f60-882c-ec1a87dc7a95
date added to LUP
2017-05-08 11:58:36
date last changed
2024-04-14 10:09:22
@article{3f1efdf5-f3e0-4f60-882c-ec1a87dc7a95,
  abstract     = {{<p>Signatures of Majorana-fermion bound states in one-dimensional topological-insulator (TI) nanowires with proximity-effect-induced superconductivity are studied. The phase diagram and energy spectra are calculated for single-TI nanowires, and it is shown that the nanowires can be in the topologically invariant phases of winding numbers W=0,±1, and ±2, corresponding to the cases with zero, one, and two pairs of Majorana fermions in the single-TI nanowires. It is also shown that the topological winding numbers, i.e., the numbers of pairs of Majorana fermions in the TI nanowires, can be extracted from the transport measurements of a Josephson-junction device made from two TI nanowires, while the sign in the winding numbers can be extracted using a superconducting quantum interference device setup.</p>}},
  author       = {{Huang, Guang Yao and Xu, H. Q.}},
  issn         = {{1098-0121}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  number       = {{15}},
  publisher    = {{American Physical Society}},
  series       = {{Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics}},
  title        = {{Majorana fermions in topological-insulator nanowires : From single superconducting nanowires to Josephson junctions}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.95.155420}},
  doi          = {{10.1103/PhysRevB.95.155420}},
  volume       = {{95}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}