English

Converting a topologically trivial superconductor into a topological superconductor via magnetic doping

Superconductivity 2015-09-08 v1

Abstract

We present a comparative theoretical study of the effects of standard Anderson and magnetic disorders on the topological phases of two-dimensional Rashba spin-orbit coupled superconductors, with the initial state to be either topologically trivial or nontrivial. Using the self-consistent Born approximation approach, we show that the presence of Anderson disorders will drive a topological superconductor into a topologically trivial superconductor in the weak coupling limit. Even more strikingly, a topologically trivial superconductor can be driven into a topological superconductor upon diluted doping of independent magnetic disorders, which gradually narrow, close, and reopen the quasi-particle gap in a nontrivial manner. These topological phase transitions are distinctly characterized by the changes in the corresponding topological invariants. The central findings made here are also confirmed using a complementary numerical approach by solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations self-consistently within a tight-binding model. The present study offers appealing new schemes for potential experimental realization of topological superconductors.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1509.01666,
  title  = {Converting a topologically trivial superconductor into a topological superconductor via magnetic doping},
  author = {Wei Qin and Di Xiao and Kai Chang and Shun-Qing Shen and Zhenyu Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.01666},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

5 pages, 3 figures