Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 98: Electronic structure: Surface magnetism and spin phenomena I

O 98.2: Talk

Thursday, March 15, 2018, 15:15–15:30, MA 042

Engineering the couplings in atomically crafted spin chains on elemental superconductors — •Anand Kamlapure, Lasse Cornils, Jens Wiebe, and Roland Wiesendanger — Department of Physics, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Spin chains coupled to s-wave superconductors realized by linear arrays of transition metal atoms on the surface of elemental superconductors may lead to topological superconductivity accompanied by the emergence of Majorana zero modes at the chain ends [1-3]. For realizing braiding of Majonara zero modes, which is ultimately needed for their usage in quantum computation, it is a prerequisite to artificially assemble such chains as well as control the exchange coupling between the chain atoms.

Here, we artificially create chains of different numbers of Fe adatoms [4] and interstitial Fe atoms on an oxygen reconstructed Ta(100) substrate using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope as a tool. We find that the interaction within the chain can be strengthened by linking the Fe adatoms with interstitial Fe atoms, adding an important step towards the controlled design of quantum circuits employing Majorana end states.

[1] S. Nadj-Perge et al., Phys. Rev. B 88, 020407(R) (2013).

[2] F. Pientka et al., Phys. Rev. B 88, 155420 (2013).

[3] J. Klinovaja et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 1 (2013).

[4] L. Cornils et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 197002 (2017).