Atomic Line Defects and Topological Superconductivity in Unconventional Superconductors
Abstract
Topological superconductors (TSCs) are correlated quantum states with simultaneous off-diagonal longrange order and nontrivial topological invariants. They produce gapless or zero-energy boundary excitations, including Majorana zero modes and chiral Majorana edge states with topologically protected phase coherence essential for fault-tolerant quantum computing. Candidate TSCs are very rare in nature. Here, we propose a novel route toward emergent quasi-one-dimensional (1D) TSCs in naturally embedded quantum structures such as atomic line defects in unconventional spin-singlet s-wave and d-wave superconductors. We show that inversion symmetry breaking and charge transfer due to the missing atoms lead to the occupation of incipient impurity bands and mixed-parity spin-singlet and -triplet Cooper pairing of neighboring electrons traversing the line defect. Nontrivial topological invariants arise and occupy a large part of the parameter space, including the time-reversal symmetry-breaking Zeeman coupling due to applied magnetic field or defect-induced magnetism, creating TSCs in different topological classes with robust Majorana zero modes at both ends of the line defect. Beyond providing a novel mechanism for the recent discovery of zero-energy bound states at both ends of an atomic line defect in monolayer Fe(Te,Se) superconductors, the findings pave the way for new material realizations of the simplest and most robust 1D TSCsmore »
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1768655
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1850210
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FG02-99ER45747
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review. X
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Physical Review. X Journal Volume: 11 Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2160-3308
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; Physics; Spin-orbit coupling; Spin-triplet pairing; Superconductivity; Topological superconductors; High-temperature superconductors; Iron-based superconductors
Citation Formats
Zhang, Yi, Jiang, Kun, Zhang, Fuchun, Wang, Jian, and Wang, Ziqiang. Atomic Line Defects and Topological Superconductivity in Unconventional Superconductors. United States: N. p., 2021.
Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.11.011041.
Zhang, Yi, Jiang, Kun, Zhang, Fuchun, Wang, Jian, & Wang, Ziqiang. Atomic Line Defects and Topological Superconductivity in Unconventional Superconductors. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.11.011041
Zhang, Yi, Jiang, Kun, Zhang, Fuchun, Wang, Jian, and Wang, Ziqiang. Mon .
"Atomic Line Defects and Topological Superconductivity in Unconventional Superconductors". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.11.011041.
@article{osti_1768655,
title = {Atomic Line Defects and Topological Superconductivity in Unconventional Superconductors},
author = {Zhang, Yi and Jiang, Kun and Zhang, Fuchun and Wang, Jian and Wang, Ziqiang},
abstractNote = {Topological superconductors (TSCs) are correlated quantum states with simultaneous off-diagonal longrange order and nontrivial topological invariants. They produce gapless or zero-energy boundary excitations, including Majorana zero modes and chiral Majorana edge states with topologically protected phase coherence essential for fault-tolerant quantum computing. Candidate TSCs are very rare in nature. Here, we propose a novel route toward emergent quasi-one-dimensional (1D) TSCs in naturally embedded quantum structures such as atomic line defects in unconventional spin-singlet s-wave and d-wave superconductors. We show that inversion symmetry breaking and charge transfer due to the missing atoms lead to the occupation of incipient impurity bands and mixed-parity spin-singlet and -triplet Cooper pairing of neighboring electrons traversing the line defect. Nontrivial topological invariants arise and occupy a large part of the parameter space, including the time-reversal symmetry-breaking Zeeman coupling due to applied magnetic field or defect-induced magnetism, creating TSCs in different topological classes with robust Majorana zero modes at both ends of the line defect. Beyond providing a novel mechanism for the recent discovery of zero-energy bound states at both ends of an atomic line defect in monolayer Fe(Te,Se) superconductors, the findings pave the way for new material realizations of the simplest and most robust 1D TSCs using embedded quantum structures in unconventional superconductors with large pairing energy gaps and high transition temperatures.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevX.11.011041},
journal = {Physical Review. X},
number = 1,
volume = 11,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2021},
month = {Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2021}
}
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