Braiding Majorana corner modes in a second-order topological superconductor
Abstract
We propose the concept of a device based on a square-shaped sample of a two-dimensional second-order topological helical superconductor which hosts two zero-dimensional Majorana quasiparticles at the corners. The two zero-energy modes rely on particle-hole symmetry (PHS) and their spacial position can be shifted by rotating an in-plane magnetic field and tuning proximity-induced spin-singlet pairing. We consider an adiabatic cycle performed on the degenerate ground-state manifold and show that it realizes the braiding of the two modes whereby they accumulate a non-trivial statistical phase within one cycle. Alongside with the PHS-ensured operator algebra, the fractional statistics confirms the Majorana nature of the zero-energy excitations. A schematic design for a possible experimental implementation of such a device is presented, which could be a step towards realizing non-Abelian braiding.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1904.07822,
title = {Braiding Majorana corner modes in a second-order topological superconductor},
author = {Tudor E. Pahomi and Manfred Sigrist and Alexey A. Soluyanov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1904.07822},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
A different physical system is considered in this version (topological superconductor), however, the topological and symmetry features are closely related to those of the two-layer topological insulator of version 2 (arXiv:1904.07822v2). A more accurate distinction is made between the fractional statistics of the Majorana corner states and their potential non-Abelian properties