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Title: Half-integer level shift of vortex bound states in an iron-based superconductor

Abstract

Vortices in topological superconductors host Majorana zero modes (MZMs), which are proposed to be building blocks of fault-tolerant topological quantum computers. Recently, a new single-material platform for realizing MZM has been discovered in iron-based superconductors, without involving hybrid semiconductor-superconductor structures. Here we report on a detailed scanning tunneling spectroscopy study of a FeTe0.55Se0.45 single crystal, revealing two distinct classes of vortices present in this system which differ by a half-integer level shift in the energy spectra of the vortex bound states. This level shift is directly tied with the presence or absence of zero-bias peak and also alters the ratios of higher energy levels from integer to half-odd-integer. Our model calculations fully reproduce the spectra of these two types of vortex bound states, suggesting the presence of topological and conventional superconducting regions that coexist within the same crystal. Our findings provide strong evidence for the topological nature of superconductivity in FeTe0.55Se0.45 and establish it as an excellent platform for further studies on MZMs.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [5]; ORCiD logo [5];  [2];  [4];  [3]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
  2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  3. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China); Songshan Lake Materials Lab., Guangdong (China)
  4. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
  5. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1543405
Report Number(s):
BNL-211873-2019-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 1745-2473
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0012704
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 15; Journal ID: ISSN 1745-2473
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group (NPG)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Citation Formats

Kong, Lingyuan, Zhu, Shiyu, Papaj, Michal, Chen, Hui, Cao, Lu, Isobe, Hiroki, Xing, Yuqing, Liu, Wenyao, Wang, Dongfei, Fan, Peng, Sun, Yujie, Du, Shixuan, Schneeloch, John, Zhong, Ruidan, Gu, Genda, Fu, Liang, Gao, Hong-Jun, and Ding, Hong. Half-integer level shift of vortex bound states in an iron-based superconductor. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1038/s41567-019-0630-5.
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Kong, Lingyuan, Zhu, Shiyu, Papaj, Michal, Chen, Hui, Cao, Lu, Isobe, Hiroki, Xing, Yuqing, Liu, Wenyao, Wang, Dongfei, Fan, Peng, Sun, Yujie, Du, Shixuan, Schneeloch, John, Zhong, Ruidan, Gu, Genda, Fu, Liang, Gao, Hong-Jun, & Ding, Hong. Half-integer level shift of vortex bound states in an iron-based superconductor. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-019-0630-5
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Kong, Lingyuan, Zhu, Shiyu, Papaj, Michal, Chen, Hui, Cao, Lu, Isobe, Hiroki, Xing, Yuqing, Liu, Wenyao, Wang, Dongfei, Fan, Peng, Sun, Yujie, Du, Shixuan, Schneeloch, John, Zhong, Ruidan, Gu, Genda, Fu, Liang, Gao, Hong-Jun, and Ding, Hong. Mon . "Half-integer level shift of vortex bound states in an iron-based superconductor". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-019-0630-5. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1543405.
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@article{osti_1543405,
title = {Half-integer level shift of vortex bound states in an iron-based superconductor},
author = {Kong, Lingyuan and Zhu, Shiyu and Papaj, Michal and Chen, Hui and Cao, Lu and Isobe, Hiroki and Xing, Yuqing and Liu, Wenyao and Wang, Dongfei and Fan, Peng and Sun, Yujie and Du, Shixuan and Schneeloch, John and Zhong, Ruidan and Gu, Genda and Fu, Liang and Gao, Hong-Jun and Ding, Hong},
abstractNote = {Vortices in topological superconductors host Majorana zero modes (MZMs), which are proposed to be building blocks of fault-tolerant topological quantum computers. Recently, a new single-material platform for realizing MZM has been discovered in iron-based superconductors, without involving hybrid semiconductor-superconductor structures. Here we report on a detailed scanning tunneling spectroscopy study of a FeTe0.55Se0.45 single crystal, revealing two distinct classes of vortices present in this system which differ by a half-integer level shift in the energy spectra of the vortex bound states. This level shift is directly tied with the presence or absence of zero-bias peak and also alters the ratios of higher energy levels from integer to half-odd-integer. Our model calculations fully reproduce the spectra of these two types of vortex bound states, suggesting the presence of topological and conventional superconducting regions that coexist within the same crystal. Our findings provide strong evidence for the topological nature of superconductivity in FeTe0.55Se0.45 and establish it as an excellent platform for further studies on MZMs.},
doi = {10.1038/s41567-019-0630-5},
journal = {Nature Physics},
number = ,
volume = 15,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Mon Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-019-0630-5
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Caroli-de Gennes-Matricon states in a vortex with a Majorana zero mode. a, A normalized zero-bias conductance map measured at a magnetic field of 6.0 T, with the area 70 nm by 70 nm. The average inter-vortex length is around 19.3 nm, which is consistent with the expectation, .more » Insert: A STM topography of FeTe0.55Se0.45 (scanning area 10 nm by 10 nm). b, Typical tunneling conductance spectra measured around the vortex marked by the white box in (a). The curves are offset for clarity. The red curve is measured at the vortex center. The blue curve is measured slightly off the center, and the black curve is measured at the vortex edge. The short colored bar below each curve marks its zero conductance. c, Three dimensional display of the line-cut intensity plot along the white dash line indicated in (a). Four subgap states are identified by the arrows in different colors. Besides the MZM, all the Caroli-de Gennes-Matricon states almost remain at the same energy along the line cut through the vortex.« less
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    Nearly quantized conductance plateau of vortex zero mode in an iron-based superconductor
    journal, December 2019

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