Skyrmion spin texture in ferromagnetic semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures

Abstract

We provide a derivation of a spin Skyrmion number classification for two-dimensional topological superconductors constructed from ferromagnetic and Rashba spin-orbit coupled semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures. We show that in the non-trivial topological phase, characterized by a non-zero Chern number, there is always a topological spin texture in the occupied bands represented by a Skyrmion number. The Skyrmion number has the advantage of being both physically intuitive and directly measurable using spin-sensitive band structure imaging techniques. In addition, we show that the Skyrmion classification can be extended to the equivalent one-dimensional topological superconductors.

8 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• Supercurrent detection of topologically trivial zero-energy states in nanowire junctions
• Spin and Charge Signatures of Topological Superconductivity in Rashba Nanowires
• Topological Phase Detection in Rashba Nanowires with a Quantum Dot
• Interaction of Skyrmions and Pearl Vortices in Superconductor-Chiral Ferromagnet Heterostructures
• Manipulation of Magnetic Skyrmions by Superconducting Vortices in Ferromagnet-Superconductor Heterostructures
• Spin-polarized edge currents and Majorana fermions in one- and two-dimensional topological superconductors
• Momentum-Space Spin Texture in a Topological Superconductor
• Spin-Orbital Hallmarks of Unconventional Superconductors Without Inversion Symmetry
• Signatures of topological phase transitions in the s-wave superconductor at finite temperature