We consider a model for a one-dimensional quantum wire with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and repulsive interactions, proximity coupled to a conventional s-wave superconductor. Using a combination of Hartree-Fock and density matrix renormalization group calculations, we show that for sufficiently strong interactions in the wire, a time-reversal invariant topological superconducting phase can be stabilized in the absence of an external magnetic field. This phase supports two zeroenergy Majorana bound states at each end, which are protected by time-reversal symmetry. The mechanism for the formation of this phase is a reversal of the sign of the effective pair potential in the wire, due to the repulsive interactions. We calculate the differential conductance into the wire and its dependence on an applied magnetic field using the scattering-matrix formalism. The behavior of the zero-bias anomaly as a function of the field direction can serve as a distinct experimental signature of the topological phase.
We suggest a way to overcome the obstacles that disorder and high density of states pose to the creation of unpaired Majorana fermions in onedimensional systems. This is achieved by splitting the system into a chain of quantum dots, which are then tuned to the conditions under which the chain can be viewed as an effective Kitaev model, so that it is in a robust topological phase with well-localized Majorana states in the outermost dots. The tuning algorithm that we develop involves controlling the gate voltages and the superconducting phases. Resonant Andreev spectroscopy allows us to make the tuning adaptive, so that each pair of dots may be tuned independently of the other. The calculated quantized zero bias conductance serves then as a natural proof of the topological nature of the tuned phase.
We consider a normal lead coupled to a Majorana bound state. We show that the spin-resolved current correlations exhibit unique features which distinguish Majorana bound states from other low-energy resonances. In particular, the spin-up and spin-down currents from a Majorana bound state are anticorrelated at low bias voltages, and become uncorrelated at higher voltages. This behavior is independent of the exact form of coupling to the lead, and of the direction of the spin polarization. In contrast, an ordinary low-energy Andreev bound state gives rise to a positive correlation between the spin-up and spin-down currents, and this spin-resolved current-current correlation approaches a nonzero constant at high bias voltages. We discuss experimental setups in which this effect can be measured.
The electron number parity of the ground state of a semiconductor nanowire proximity coupled to a bulk superconductor can alternate between the quantized values ±1 if parameters such as the wire length L, the chemical potential μ, or the magnetic field B are varied inside the topological superconductor phase. The parity jumps, which may be interpreted as changes in the occupancy of the fermion state formed from the pair of Majorana modes at opposite ends of the wire, are accompanied by jumps δN in the charge of the nanowire, whose values decrease exponentially with the wire length. We study theoretically the dependence of δN on system parameters, and compare the locations in the μ-B plane of parity jumps when the nanowire is or is not proximity coupled to a bulk superconductor. We show that, despite the fact that the wave functions of the Majorana modes are localized near the two ends of the wire, the charge-density jumps have spatial distributions that are essentially uniform along the wire length, being proportional to the product of the two Majorana wave functions. We explain how charge measurements, say by an external single-electron transistor, could reveal these effects. Whereas existing experimental methods require direct contact to the wire for tunneling measurements, charge sensing avoids this issue and provides an orthogonal measurement to confirm recent experimental developments. Furthermore, by comparing density of states measurements which show Majorana features at the wire ends with the uniformly distributed charge measurements, one can rule out alternative explanations for earlier results. We shed light on a parameter regime for these wire-superconductor hybrid systems, and propose a related experiment to measure spin density.
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