Majorana fermions on the quantum Hall edge

Superconductivity and the quantum Hall effect are considered to be two cornerstones of condensed matter physics. The realization of hybrid structures where these two effects coexist has recently become an active field of research. In this work, we study a Josephson junction where a central region in...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Peralta Gavensky, Lucila, Usaj, Gonzalo, Balseiro, Carlos Antonio
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/146776
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/146776
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Majorana fermions
Topological systems
Quantum Hall effect
Josephson effect
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.3
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Descripción
Sumario:Superconductivity and the quantum Hall effect are considered to be two cornerstones of condensed matter physics. The realization of hybrid structures where these two effects coexist has recently become an active field of research. In this work, we study a Josephson junction where a central region in the quantum Hall regime is proximitized with superconductors that can be driven to a topological phase with an external Zeeman field. In this regime, the Majorana modes that emerge at the ends of each superconducting lead couple to the chiral quantum Hall edge states. This produces distinguishable features in the Andreev levels and Fraunhofer patterns that could help in detecting not only the topological phase transition but also the spin degree of freedom of these exotic quasiparticles. The current phase relation and the spectral properties of the junction throughout the topological transition are fully described by a numerical tight-binding calculation. In pursuance of the understanding of these results, we develop a low-energy spinful model that captures the main features of the numerical transport simulations in the topological phase.