Majorana-Weyl cones in ferroelectric superconductors
Topological superconductors are predicted to exhibit outstanding phenomena, including non-Abelian anyon excitations, heat-carrying edge states, and topological nodes in the Bogoliubov spectra. Nonetheless, and despite major experimental efforts, we are still lacking unambiguous signatures of such ex...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Physical Society
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Physical Review Research |
| Online Access: | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.013178 |
| _version_ | 1797210528233291776 |
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| author | Hennadii Yerzhakov Roni Ilan Efrat Shimshoni Jonathan Ruhman |
| author_facet | Hennadii Yerzhakov Roni Ilan Efrat Shimshoni Jonathan Ruhman |
| author_sort | Hennadii Yerzhakov |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Topological superconductors are predicted to exhibit outstanding phenomena, including non-Abelian anyon excitations, heat-carrying edge states, and topological nodes in the Bogoliubov spectra. Nonetheless, and despite major experimental efforts, we are still lacking unambiguous signatures of such exotic phenomena. In this context, the recent discovery of coexisting superconductivity and ferroelectricity in lightly doped and ultraclean SrTiO_{3} opens new opportunities. Indeed, a promising route to engineer topological superconductivity is the combination of strong spin-orbit coupling and inversion-symmetry breaking. Here we study a three-dimensional parabolic band minimum with Rashba spin-orbit coupling, whose axis is aligned by the direction of a ferroelectric moment. We show that all of the aforementioned phenomena naturally emerge in this model when a magnetic field is applied. Above a critical Zeeman field, Majorana-Weyl cones emerge regardless of the electronic density. These cones manifest themselves as Majorana arc states appearing on surfaces and tetragonal domain walls. Rotating the magnetic field with respect to the direction of the ferroelectric moment tilts the Majorana-Weyl cones, eventually driving them into the type-II state with Bogoliubov Fermi surfaces. We then consider the consequences of the orbital magnetic field. First, the single vortex is found to be surrounded by a topological halo and is characterized by two Majorana zero modes: one localized in the vortex core and the other on the boundary of the topological halo. Based on a semiclassical argument we show that upon increasing the field above a critical value the halos overlap and eventually percolate through the system, causing a bulk topological transition that always precedes the normal state. Finally, we propose concrete experiments to test our predictions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:12:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a8d8fce38e904a029cc3e2b7efb2e47e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2643-1564 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:12:01Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Physical Review Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-a8d8fce38e904a029cc3e2b7efb2e47e2024-04-12T17:29:13ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review Research2643-15642023-03-015101317810.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.013178Majorana-Weyl cones in ferroelectric superconductorsHennadii YerzhakovRoni IlanEfrat ShimshoniJonathan RuhmanTopological superconductors are predicted to exhibit outstanding phenomena, including non-Abelian anyon excitations, heat-carrying edge states, and topological nodes in the Bogoliubov spectra. Nonetheless, and despite major experimental efforts, we are still lacking unambiguous signatures of such exotic phenomena. In this context, the recent discovery of coexisting superconductivity and ferroelectricity in lightly doped and ultraclean SrTiO_{3} opens new opportunities. Indeed, a promising route to engineer topological superconductivity is the combination of strong spin-orbit coupling and inversion-symmetry breaking. Here we study a three-dimensional parabolic band minimum with Rashba spin-orbit coupling, whose axis is aligned by the direction of a ferroelectric moment. We show that all of the aforementioned phenomena naturally emerge in this model when a magnetic field is applied. Above a critical Zeeman field, Majorana-Weyl cones emerge regardless of the electronic density. These cones manifest themselves as Majorana arc states appearing on surfaces and tetragonal domain walls. Rotating the magnetic field with respect to the direction of the ferroelectric moment tilts the Majorana-Weyl cones, eventually driving them into the type-II state with Bogoliubov Fermi surfaces. We then consider the consequences of the orbital magnetic field. First, the single vortex is found to be surrounded by a topological halo and is characterized by two Majorana zero modes: one localized in the vortex core and the other on the boundary of the topological halo. Based on a semiclassical argument we show that upon increasing the field above a critical value the halos overlap and eventually percolate through the system, causing a bulk topological transition that always precedes the normal state. Finally, we propose concrete experiments to test our predictions.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.013178 |
| spellingShingle | Hennadii Yerzhakov Roni Ilan Efrat Shimshoni Jonathan Ruhman Majorana-Weyl cones in ferroelectric superconductors Physical Review Research |
| title | Majorana-Weyl cones in ferroelectric superconductors |
| title_full | Majorana-Weyl cones in ferroelectric superconductors |
| title_fullStr | Majorana-Weyl cones in ferroelectric superconductors |
| title_full_unstemmed | Majorana-Weyl cones in ferroelectric superconductors |
| title_short | Majorana-Weyl cones in ferroelectric superconductors |
| title_sort | majorana weyl cones in ferroelectric superconductors |
| url | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.013178 |
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