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Manipulating Majorana fermions using supercurrents

Romito, Alessandro and Alicea, Jason and Refael, Gil and von Oppen, Felix (2012) Manipulating Majorana fermions using supercurrents. Physical Review B, 85 (2). 020502. ISSN 1098-0121. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.85.020502. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20120206-102258105

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Abstract

Topological insulator edges and spin-orbit-coupled quantum wires in proximity to s-wave superconductors can be tuned through a topological quantum phase transition by a Zeeman field. Here we show that a supercurrent flowing in the s-wave superconductor also drives such a transition. We propose to use this mechanism to generate and manipulate Majorana fermions that localize at domain walls between topological and nontopological regions of an edge or wire. In quantum wires, this method carries the added benefit that a supercurrent reduces the critical Zeeman field at which the topological phase appears.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.020502DOIUNSPECIFIED
http://prb.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v85/i2/e020502PublisherUNSPECIFIED
http://arxiv.org/abs/1110.6193arXivUNSPECIFIED
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Alicea, Jason0000-0001-9979-3423
Additional Information:© 2012 American Physical Society. Received 8 November 2011; revised 19 December 2011; published 6 January 2012. We thank P. Brouwer, L. Jiang, and A. Morpurgo for useful discussions, and the Aspen Center for Physics for hospitality. We acknowledge support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through Priority Program 1285, the Moore Foundation and the National Science Foundation through the IQIM, as well as the National Science Foundation through Grant No. DMR-1055522.
Group:Institute for Quantum Information and Matter
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Priority Program1285
Moore FoundationUNSPECIFIED
NSF IQIMUNSPECIFIED
NSFDMR-1055522
Issue or Number:2
Classification Code:PACS: 74.78.Na, 73.63.Nm, 03.67.Lx, 74.45.+c
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.85.020502
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20120206-102258105
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20120206-102258105
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:29149
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By:INVALID USER
Deposited On:06 Feb 2012 19:46
Last Modified:09 Nov 2021 17:04

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