Majorana edge modes of topological exciton condensate with superconductors

Abstract

I study the edge states of the topological exciton condensate formed by Coulomb interaction between two parallel surfaces of a strong topological insulator. When the condensate is contacted by superconductors with a π phase shift across the two surfaces, a pair of counter-propagating Majorana modes close the gap at the boundary. I propose a nano-structured system of topological insulators and superconductors to realize unpaired Majorana fermions. The Majorana signal can be used to detect the formation of the topological exciton condensate. The relevant experimental signatures as well as implications for related systems are discussed.

4 pages, 4 figures; (v2) Eq. 7 and Fig. 4 and various typos corrected. All conclusions remain the same

References in corpus (6)

• Superconducting proximity effect and Majorana fermions at the surface of a topological insulator
• Signatures of Majorana fermions in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanowire devices
• Room-Temperature Superfluidity in Graphene Bilayers
• Exciton condensation and charge fractionalization in a topological insulator film
• Near zero modes in condensate phases of the Dirac theory on the honeycomb lattice
• Vortices, zero modes and fractionalization in bilayer-graphene exciton condensate

Cited by in corpus (4)

• A Gapless Symmetry-Protected Topological Phase of Fermions in One Dimension
• 1D Majorana Goldstinos and partial supersymmetry breaking in quantum wires
• Dispersive 1D Majorana modes with emergent supersymmetry in 1D proximitized superconductors via spatially-modulated potentials and magnetic fields
• Zero modes of the generalized fermion-vortex system in magnetic field