Signatures of topological phase transitions in Josephson current-phase discontinuities

Abstract

Topological superconductors differ from topologically trivial ones for the presence of topologically protected zero-energy modes. To date, experimental evidence of topological superconductivity in nanostructures has been mainly obtained by measuring the zero-bias conductance peak via tunneling spectroscopy. Here, we propose an alternative and complementary experimental recipe to detect topological phase transitions in these systems. We show in fact that, for a finite-sized system with broken time-reversal symmetry, discontinuities in the Josephson current-phase relation correspond to the presence of zero-energy modes and to a change in the fermion parity of the groundstate. Such discontinuities can be experimentally revealed by a characteristic temperature dependence of the current, and can be related to a finite anomalous current at zero phase in systems with broken phase-inversion symmetry.

11 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (39)

• Topological superconductors: a review
• Josephson ${\phi }_0$-junction in nanowire quantum dots
• Topological Superconductivity in a Planar Josephson Junction
• Majorana nanowires for topological quantum computation
• Signatures of topological Josephson junctions
• Geometry controlled superconducting diode and anomalous Josephson effect triggered by the topological phase transition in curved proximitized nanowires
• Nonlocal thermoelectricity in a Cooper-pair splitter
• Exact zero modes in twisted Kitaev chains
• Anomalous Josephson Effect in S/SO/F/S heterostructures
• Controlling Majorana states in topologically inhomogeneous superconductors
• Non-linear critical current thermal response of an asymmetric Josephson tunnel junction
• $0$-$\pi$ transitions in a Josephson junction of irradiated Weyl semimetal
• Braidonium: a braiding quantum circuit based on the $4\pi$ Josephson effect
• Double quantum dot Cooper-pair splitter at finite couplings
• Majorana bound states in hybrid 2D Josephson junctions with ferromagnetic insulators
• Finite length effect on supercurrents between trivial and topological superconductors
• Signatures of time-reversal-invariant topological superconductivity in the Josephson effect
• rf-SQUID measurements of anomalous Josephson effect
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• Nonlocal thermoelectric engines in hybrid topological Josephson junctions
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• Kitaev chain with a quantum dot
• Catalogue of Andreev spectra and Josephson effects in structures with time-reversal-invariant topological superconductor wires
• Energy spectrum and current-phase relation of a nanowire Josephson junction close to the topological transition
• Signatures of Jackiw-Rebbi resonance in the thermal conductance of topological Josephson junctions with magnetic islands
• Anomalous Josephson effect in planar noncentrosymmetric superconducting devices
• Transport through Andreev bound states in a Weyl semimetal quantum dot
• Tomography of zero-energy end modes in topological superconducting wires
• Majorana phi0 Junction in a Disordered Spin-orbit Coupling Nanowire with Tilted Magnetic Field
• Nonequilibrium Andreev bound states population in short superconducting junctions coupled to a resonator
• Josephson current via an isolated Majorana zero mode
• Josephson current signature of Floquet Majorana and topological accidental zero modes in altermagnet heterostructures
• Zero-dimensional topologically nontrivial state in a superconducting quantum dot
• Andreev spin-noise detector
• Topological Josephson Junctions in the Integer Quantum Hall Regime
• Fabry-Perot interferometry in Weyl semi-metals
• Kitaev ring threaded by a magnetic flux: Topological gap, Anderson localization of quasiparticles, and divergence of supercurrent derivative
• Resonator induced quantum phase transitions in a hybrid Josephson junction