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Pan XH, Chen L, Liu DE, Zhang FC, Liu X. Majorana Zero Modes Induced by the Meissner Effect at Small Magnetic Field. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2024; 132:036602. [PMID: 38307040 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.132.036602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2024]
Abstract
One key difficulty in realizing Majorana zero modes (MZMs) is the required high magnetic field, which causes serious issues, e.g., shrinks the superconducting gap, reduces topological region, and weakens their robustness against disorders. In this Letter, we propose that the Meissner effect can bring the topological superconducting phase to a superconductor/topological-insulator/superconductor (SC/TI/SC) hybrid system. Remarkably, the required magnetic field strength (<10 mT) to support MZMs has been reduced by several orders of magnitude compared to that (>0.5 T) in the previous schemes. Tuning the phase difference between the top and bottom superconductors can control the number and position of the MZMs. In addition, we account for the electrostatic potential in the superconductor/topological-insulator (SC/TI) interface through the self-consistent Schrödinger-Poisson calculation, which shows the experimental accessibility of our proposal. Our proposal only needs a small magnetic field of less than 10 mT and is robust against the chemical potential fluctuation, which makes the SC/TI/SC hybrid an ideal Majorana platform.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao-Hong Pan
- School of Physics and Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Gravitation and Quantum Physics and Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China
- Wuhan Institute of Quantum Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China
| | - Li Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - Dong E Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - Fu-Chun Zhang
- Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
| | - Xin Liu
- School of Physics and Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Gravitation and Quantum Physics and Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China
- Wuhan Institute of Quantum Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China
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