Signature of a topological phase transition in long SN junctions in the spin-polarized density of states

Abstract

We investigate the spin texture of Andreev bound states and Majorana states in long SN junctions. We show that measuring the spin-polarized density of states (SPDOS) allows one to identify the topological transition. In particular, we find that its total component parallel to the wire is non-zero in the topological phase for the lowest-energy state, while vanishing in the trivial one. Also, the component parallel to the Zeeman field is symmetric between positive and negative energies in the topological phase and asymmetric in the trivial phase. Moreover the SPDOS exhibits a moderate accumulation close to the SN boundary which changes sign when crossing the topological transition. We propose that these signatures may allow one to unambiguously test the formation of a topological phase via spin-resolved transport and STM measurements.

7 pages, 8 figures

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Approaching a topological phase transition in Majorana nanowires
• Boundary spin polarization as robust signature of topological phase transition in Majorana nanowires
• Topological superconductivity and Majorana states in low-dimensional systems
• Identification of topological superconductivity in magnetic impurity systems using bulk spin-polarization
• Braiding higher-order Majorana corner states through their spin degree of freedom
• Majorana bound states in a superconducting Rashba nanowire in the presence of antiferromagnetic order
• Probing chiral edge states in topological superconductors through spin-polarized local density of state measurements
• Electrostatical formation of the Majorana quasiparticles in the quantum dot--nanoring structure
• Delocalisation of Majorana quasiparticles in plaquette--nanowire hybrid system
• Hybridization mechanism of the dual proximity effect in superconductor-topological insulator interfaces
• Instability of Majorana states in Shiba chains due to leakage into a topological substrate