Electrical Manipulation of Majorana Fermions in an Interdigitated Superconductor-Ferromagnet Device

Abstract

We show that a topological phase supporting Majorana fermions can form in a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) adjacent to an interdigitated superconductor-ferromagnet structure. An advantage of this setup is that the 2DEG can induce the required Zeeman splitting and superconductivity from a single interface, allowing one to utilize a wide class of 2DEGs including the surface states of bulk InAs. We demonstrate that the interdigitated device supports a robust topological phase when the finger spacing λ is smaller than half of the Fermi wavelength λ_F. In this regime, the electrons effectively see a “smeared” Zeeman splitting and pairing field despite the interdigitation. The topological phase survives even in the opposite limit λ>λ_F/2, although with a reduced bulk gap. We describe how to electrically generate a vortex in this setup to trap a Majorana mode, and predict an anomalous Fraunhofer pattern that provides a sharp signature of chiral Majorana edge states.