Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik

HL 75: Transport: Majorana fermions (organized by TT)

HL 75.9: Talk

Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 17:30–17:45, HSZ 03

Majorana fermions in quasi-1d Rashba semiconductor/superconductor heterostructures without the requirement of a Zeeman field — •Panagiotis Kotetes, Alexander Shnirman, and Gerd Schön — Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Recent experiments have provided the first promising indications of Majorana fermions (MFs) in heterostructures consisting of Rashba semiconducting wires and superconductors in the presence of a Zeeman field. By performing a complete classification of engineered topological superconductors (TSCs) [1] we predict that MFs are accessible in quasi-1d Rashba semiconductors with proximity induced superconductivity, even in the absence of magnetism. The only requirement is the presence of a Josephson current, flowing transversely to the principal axis of the quasi-1d structure. Here, we demonstrate how MFs emerge within our proposal when multi-wire or multi-channnel semiconductors are involved. The crucial effect of the supercurrent flow is to convert the inter-wire/channel spin-orbit coupling into an effective Zeeman term. Our results can motivate a new set of experiments using the already developed devices but in different configurations, providing in this way an accessible and irrefutable method for confirming the emergence of MFs.
P. Kotetes, New J. Phys. 15, 105027 (2013)