English

Topological Superconducting Vortex From Trivial Electronic Bands

Superconductivity 2023-02-13 v2 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics Materials Science Strongly Correlated Electrons

Abstract

Superconducting vortices are promising traps to confine non-Abelian Majorana quasi-particles. It has been widely believed that bulk-state topology, of either normal-state or superconducting ground-state wavefunctions, is crucial for enabling Majorana zero modes in solid-state systems. This common belief has shaped two major search directions for Majorana modes, in either intrinsic topological superconductors or trivially superconducting topological materials. Here we show that Majorana-carrying superconducting vortex is not exclusive to bulk-state topology, but can arise from topologically trivial quantum materials as well. We predict that the trivial bands in superconducting HgTe-class materials are responsible for inducing anomalous vortex topological physics that goes beyond any existing theoretical paradigms. A feasible scheme of strain-controlled Majorana engineering and experimental signatures for vortex Majorana modes are also discussed. Our work provides new guidelines for vortex-based Majorana search in general superconductors.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2204.03175,
  title  = {Topological Superconducting Vortex From Trivial Electronic Bands},
  author = {Lun-Hui Hu and Rui-Xing Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2204.03175},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

12+11 pages, 4+4 figures, 1 table

R2 v1 2026-06-24T10:40:38.553Z