English

Topological properties of the [110] SnTe nanowires

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2024-07-24 v1

Abstract

SnTe materials are know to be a platform for realization of various strong and symmetry protected topological phases in one, two and three spatial dimensions. We study symmetry-protected topological states in [110][110] SnTe nanowires in the presence of various combinations of Zeeman field, ss-wave superconductivity, inversion-symmetry-breaking field and the thickness of the wire. In the normal state we find a Weyl semimetal phase protected by a twofold screw axis symmetry and a topological insulating phase characterized by a Z\mathbb{Z} invariant protected by a mirror symmetry. In the presence of superconductivity, we find inversion-symmetry-protected gapless phase which becomes fully gapped and topologically non-trivial by introducing an inversion-symmetry-breaking field. Consequently, we find topologically protected localized Majorana zero modes appear at the ends of the wire. We find that this Majorana phase is much easier to achieve in a [110][110] SnTe nanowire than in a [001][001] one.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2407.16421,
  title  = {Topological properties of the [110] SnTe nanowires},
  author = {Alicja Kawala and Wojciech Brzezicki},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.16421},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

13 pages, 14 figures