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MM: Fachverband Metall- und Materialphysik

MM 63: Symposium on Frontiers of Electronic Structure Theory: Focus on Topology and Transport

MM 63.3: Hauptvortrag

Freitag, 11. März 2016, 10:30–11:00, H1

Transport in Topological Insulators and Topological Superconductors: In Search of Majorana Fermions — •Ewelina Hankiewicz — Wuerzburg University

Topological insulators (TIs) have a bulk energy gap that separates the highest occupied band from the lowest unoccupied band and the metallic gapless states at the edge [1]. Similarly, topological superconductors (TSC) have gapless zero energy states protected by the particle-hole symmetry, which in some cases form Majorana bound states. Here, we focus on the proximity-induced superconductivity in TIs [2] as well as on unusual properties of TSC [3] showing that they both can pave a road to find a Majorana state.

Concerning proximity-induced superconductivity in TIs, we describe a novel superconducting quantum spin-Hall effect, which is protected against elastic backscattering by combined time-reversal and particle-hole symmetry even in magnetic fields [2]. We discuss unusual transport properties of this effect and possible Majorana detection schemes.

Finally, we discuss new systems like TSC on the hexagonal lattices. We develop combined microscopic and macroscopic description of these materials that predicts realistic scanning tunneling microscopy signal in these superconductors [3]. Is there a way to measure Majorana state in these systems?

[1] G. Tkachov and E. M. Hankiewicz, Review in Phys. Status Solidi B 250, 215 (2013). [2] R. Reinthaler, G. Tkachov and E.M. Hankiewicz, Phys. Rev. B 92, 161303(R) (2015). [3] L. Elster, C. Platt, R. Thomale, W. Hanke, and E. M. Hankiewicz, Nature Comm. 6, 8232 (2015).