Selective Equal-Spin Andreev Reflections Induced by Majorana Fermions

In this work, we find that Majorana fermions induce selective equal spin Andreev reflections (SESARs), in which incoming electrons with certain spin polarization in the lead are reflected as counterpropagating holes with the same spin. The spin polarization direction of the electrons of this Andreev...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: He, James J., Ng, Tai-Kai, Lee, Patrick A., Law, Kam Tuen
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: American Physical Society 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/85078
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7809-8157
Description
Summary:In this work, we find that Majorana fermions induce selective equal spin Andreev reflections (SESARs), in which incoming electrons with certain spin polarization in the lead are reflected as counterpropagating holes with the same spin. The spin polarization direction of the electrons of this Andreev reflected channel is selected by the Majorana fermions. Moreover, electrons with opposite spin polarization are always reflected as electrons with unchanged spin. As a result, the charge current in the lead is spin polarized. Therefore, a topological superconductor which supports Majorana fermions can be used as a novel device to create fully spin-polarized currents in paramagnetic leads. We point out that SESARs can also be used to detect Majorana fermions in topological superconductors.