Quantum phase transition of chiral Majorana fermions in the presence of disorder

Lian, Biao; Wang, Jing; Sun, Xiao -Qi; Vaezi, Abolhassan; Zhang, Shou -Cheng

doi:10.1103/physrevb.97.125408

Quantum phase transition of chiral Majorana fermions in the presence of disorder

Journal Article · Fri Mar 09 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Physical Review. B

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.97.125408· OSTI ID:1437231

Lian, Biao ^[1]; Wang, Jing ^[2]; Sun, Xiao -Qi ^[3]; Vaezi, Abolhassan ^[3]; Zhang, Shou -Cheng ^[3]

Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)
Fudan Univ., Shanghai (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing (China)
Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)

Here, we study the quantum phase transitions of a disordered two-dimensional quantum anomalous Hall insulator with s-wave superconducting proximity, which are governed by the percolation theory of chiral Majorana fermions. Based on symmetry arguments and a renormalization-group analysis, we show there are generically two phase transitions from Bogoliubov–de Gennes Chern number N=0 to N=1(p+ip chiral topological superconductor) and then to N=2, in agreement with the conclusion from the band theory without disorders. Further, we discuss the critical scaling behavior of the e²/2h conductance half plateau induced by the N=1 chiral topological superconductor recently observed in the experiment. In particular, we compare the critical behavior of the half plateau induced by the topological superconductor with that predicted recently by alternative explanations of the half plateau and show that they can be distinguished in experiments.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515

OSTI ID:: 1437231

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1425236

Journal Information:: Physical Review. B, Journal Name: Physical Review. B Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 97; ISSN 2469-9950; ISSN PRBMDO

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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