Phase coherence and Andreev reflection in topological insulator devices
Abstract
Topological insulators (TIs) have attracted immense interest because they host helical surface states. Protected by time-reversal symmetry, they are robust to nonmagnetic disorder. When superconductivity is induced in these helical states, they are predicted to emulate p-wave pairing symmetry, with Majorana states bound to vortices. Majorana bound states possess non-Abelian exchange statistics that can be probed through interferometry. Here, we take a significant step towards Majorana interferometry by observing pronounced Fabry-Pérot oscillations in a TI sandwiched between a superconducting and a normal lead. For energies below the superconducting gap, we observe a doubling in the frequency of the oscillations, arising from an additional phase from Andreev reflection. When a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the TI surface, a number of very sharp and gate-tunable conductance peaks appear at or near zero energy, which has consequences for interpreting spectroscopic probes of Majorana fermions. Our results show that TIs are a promising platform for exploring phase-coherent transport in a solid-state system.
- Authors:
-
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL (United States)
- Missouri Univ. of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1221968
- Grant/Contract Number:
- DMR-12-55607; FG02-07ER46453; FG02-07ER46471
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review. X
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 4; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 2160-3308
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; condensed matter physics; superconductivity; topological insulators
Citation Formats
Finck, A. D. K., Kurter, C., Hor, Y. S., and Van Harlingen, D. J. Phase coherence and Andreev reflection in topological insulator devices. United States: N. p., 2014.
Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.4.041022.
Finck, A. D. K., Kurter, C., Hor, Y. S., & Van Harlingen, D. J. Phase coherence and Andreev reflection in topological insulator devices. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.4.041022
Finck, A. D. K., Kurter, C., Hor, Y. S., and Van Harlingen, D. J. Tue .
"Phase coherence and Andreev reflection in topological insulator devices". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.4.041022. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1221968.
@article{osti_1221968,
title = {Phase coherence and Andreev reflection in topological insulator devices},
author = {Finck, A. D. K. and Kurter, C. and Hor, Y. S. and Van Harlingen, D. J.},
abstractNote = {Topological insulators (TIs) have attracted immense interest because they host helical surface states. Protected by time-reversal symmetry, they are robust to nonmagnetic disorder. When superconductivity is induced in these helical states, they are predicted to emulate p-wave pairing symmetry, with Majorana states bound to vortices. Majorana bound states possess non-Abelian exchange statistics that can be probed through interferometry. Here, we take a significant step towards Majorana interferometry by observing pronounced Fabry-Pérot oscillations in a TI sandwiched between a superconducting and a normal lead. For energies below the superconducting gap, we observe a doubling in the frequency of the oscillations, arising from an additional phase from Andreev reflection. When a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the TI surface, a number of very sharp and gate-tunable conductance peaks appear at or near zero energy, which has consequences for interpreting spectroscopic probes of Majorana fermions. Our results show that TIs are a promising platform for exploring phase-coherent transport in a solid-state system.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevX.4.041022},
journal = {Physical Review. X},
number = 4,
volume = 4,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Nov 04 00:00:00 EST 2014},
month = {Tue Nov 04 00:00:00 EST 2014}
}
Web of Science
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