Engineering and manipulating topological qubits in 1D quantum wires

Abstract

We investigate the Josephson effect in TNT and NTN junctions, consisting of topological (T) and normal (N) phases of semiconductor-superconductor 1D heterostructures in the presence of a Zeeman field. A key feature of our setup is that, in addition to the variation of the phase of the superconducting order parameter, we allow the orientation of the magnetic field to change along the junction. We find a novel magnetic contribution to the Majorana Josephson coupling that permits the Josephson current to be tuned by changing the orientation of the magnetic field along the junction. We also predict that a spin current can be generated by a finite superconducting phase difference, rendering these materials potential candidates for spintronic applications. Finally, this new type of coupling not only constitutes a unique fingerprint for the existence of Majorana bound states but also provides an alternative pathway for manipulating and braiding topological qubits in networks of wires.

references and a note were added in v2; 6 pages, 2 figures; v1 had been submitted for the ICM2012 proceedings on the 31st of May 2012

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Cited by in corpus (19)

• Topological superconductors: a review
• Universal topological quantum computation from a superconductor/Abelian quantum Hall heterostructure
• How to infer non-Abelian statistics and topological invariants from tunneling conductance properties of realistic Majorana nanowires
• Majorana Braiding Dynamics on Nanowires
• Classification of engineered topological superconductors
• Synthetic Weyl Points and Chiral Anomaly in Majorana Devices with Nonstandard Andreev-Bound-State Spectra
• Magnetic order on a topological insulator surface with warping and proximity-induced superconductivity
• Magneto-Josephson effects and Majorana bound states in quantum wires
• Spin Transfer of Quantum Information between Majorana Modes and a Resonator
• Magnetoelectrically-Tunable Andreev-Bound-State Spectra and Spin Polarization in P-Wave Josephson Junctions
• Majorana fermion fingerprints in spin-polarised scanning tunneling microscopy
• Josephson current between two $p$-wave superconducting nanowires in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit interaction and Zeeman magnetic fields
• Effect of Magnetic Field and Rashba Spin-Orbit Interaction on the Josephson Tunneling between Superconducting Nanowires
• 4$\pi$ and 8$\pi$ dual Josephson effects induced by symmetry defects
• Generalized Josephson effect with arbitrary periodicity in quantum magnets
• Control of Majorana Edge Modes by a g-factor Engineered Nanowire Spin Transistor
• Nonreciprocal Equilibrium Josephson Effect of Arbitrary Periodicity from Poor Man's Majorana Zero Modes
• Majorana Braiding Racetracks from Charge Chern Insulator - Superconductor Hybrids
• Green Function Invariants for Floquet Topological Superconductivity Induced by Proximity Effects