Evidence for dispersing 1D Majorana channels in an iron-based superconductor

Wang, Zhenyu; Rodriguez, Jorge Olivares; Jiao, Lin; Howard, Sean; Graham, Martin; Gu, G. D.; Hughes, Taylor L.; Morr, Dirk K.; Madhavan, Vidya

doi:10.1126/science.aaw8419

Title: Evidence for dispersing 1D Majorana channels in an iron-based superconductor

Journal Article · 01 January 2020 · Science

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw8419 · OSTI ID:1580804

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The possible realization of Majorana fermions as quasiparticle excitations in condensed-matter physics has created much excitement. Most studies have focused on Majorana bound states; however, propagating Majorana states with linear dispersion have also been predicted. Here, we report scanning tunneling spectroscopic measurements of crystalline domain walls (DWs) in FeSe_0.45Te_0.55. We located DWs across which the lattice structure shifts by half a unit cell. These DWs have a finite, flat density of states inside the superconducting gap, which is a hallmark of linearly dispersing modes in one dimension. This signature is absent in DWs in the related superconductor, FeSe, which is not in the topological phase. Our joint data are consistent with the observation of dispersing Majorana states at a π-phase shift DW in a proximitized topological material.

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

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0014335; SC0012704; FG02-05ER46225

OSTI ID:: 1580804

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1618817; OSTI ID: 1599582

Journal Information:: Science, Journal Name: Science Journal Issue: 6473 Vol. 367; ISSN 0036-8075

Publisher:: AAASCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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