English

Three-phase Majorana zero modes at tiny magnetic fields

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2021-03-31 v2 Superconductivity

Abstract

Proposals for realizing Majorana fermions in condensed matter systems typically rely on magnetic fields, which degrade the proximitizing superconductor and plague the Majoranas' detection. We propose an alternative scheme to realize Majoranas based only on phase-biased superconductors. The phases (at least three of them) can be biased by a tiny magnetic field threading macroscopic superconducting loops, focusing and enhancing the effect of the magnetic field onto the junction, or by supercurrents. We show how a combination of the superconducting phase winding and the spin-orbit phase induced in closed loops (Aharonov-Casher effect) facilitates a topological superconducting state with Majorana end states. We demontrate this scheme by an analytically tractable model as well as simulations of realistic setups comprising only conventional materials.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2012.03951,
  title  = {Three-phase Majorana zero modes at tiny magnetic fields},
  author = {Omri Lesser and Karsten Flensberg and Felix von Oppen and Yuval Oreg},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2012.03951},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

5+3 pages, 3+3 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-23T20:47:36.856Z