Majorana fermions at the edge of superconducting islands

Abstract

We investigate the properties of electron states localized at the edge of a superconducting island placed on the surface of a topological insulator in a magnetic field. In such systems, Majorana fermions emerge if an odd number of vortices (or odd multivortex vorticity) is hosted by the island; otherwise, no Majorana states exist. Majorana states emerge in pairs: one state is localized near the vortex core, and another at the island edge. We analyze in detail the robustness of Majorana fermions at the edge of the island threaded by a single vortex. If the system parameters are optimized, the energy gap between the Majorana fermion and the first excited state at the edge is of the order of the superconducting gap induced on the surface of the topological insulator. The stability of the Majorana fermion state against a variation of the gate voltage and its sensitivity to the magnetic field allows one to distinguish experimentally the edge Majorana fermion from conventional Dirac fermions.

11 pages, 4 figures

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• Transport in two-dimensional topological materials: recent developments in experiment and theory
• Characterization of topological states via dual multipartite entanglement
• Majorana bound states in a disordered quantum dot chain
• Strain-driven nematicity of the odd-parity superconductivity in Sr${}_x$Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Majorana fermion from Landau quantization in 2D topological superconductors
• Coherent manipulation of a Majorana qubit by a mechanical resonator
• Size Constraints on Majorana Beamsplitter Interferometer: Majorana Coupling and Surface-Bulk Scattering
• Local density of states in two-dimensional topological superconductors under a magnetic field: signature of an exterior Majorana bound state
• Magnetic chains on a triplet superconductor
• Bound fermion states in pinned vortices in the surface states of a superconducting topological insulator: The Majorana bound state
• Controllable Majorana vortex states in iron-based superconducting nanowires
• Strain induced spin vortex and Majorana Kramer's pairs in doped topological insulators with nematic superconductivity
• Interaction between spin and Abrikosov vortices in doped topological insulators