Detecting topological superconductivity using low-frequency doubled Shapiro steps

Abstract

The fractional Josephson effect has been observed in many instances as a signature of a topological superconducting state containing zero-energy Majorana modes. We present a nontopological scenario which can produce a fractional Josephson effect generically in semiconductor-based Josephson junctions, namely, a resonant impurity bound state weakly coupled to a highly transparent channel. We show that the fractional ac Josephson effect can be generated by the Landau-Zener processes which flip the electron occupancy of the impurity bound state. The Josephson effect signature for Majorana modes become distinct from this nontopological scenario only at low frequency. We prove that a variant of the fractional ac Josephson effect, namely, the low-frequency doubled Shapiro steps, can provide a more reliable signature of the topological superconducting state.

4 pages + Supplemental Material, 4 figures. Published version

References in corpus (50)

• Non-Abelian Anyons and Topological Quantum Computation
• Superconducting proximity effect and Majorana fermions at the surface of a topological insulator
• Unpaired Majorana fermions in quantum wires
• Signatures of Majorana fermions in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanowire devices
• Majorana Fermions and a Topological Phase Transition in Semiconductor-Superconductor Heterostructures
• Paired states of fermions in two dimensions with breaking of parity and time-reversal symmetries, and the fractional quantum Hall effect
• Classification of topological insulators and superconductors in three spatial dimensions
• Helical liquids and Majorana bound states in quantum wires
• New directions in the pursuit of Majorana fermions in solid state systems
• Evidence of Majorana fermions in an Al - InAs nanowire topological superconductor
• Observation of Majorana Fermions in Ferromagnetic Atomic Chains on a Superconductor
• A generic new platform for topological quantum computation using semiconductor heterostructures
• Search for Majorana fermions in superconductors
• Observation of Majorana Fermions in a Nb-InSb Nanowire-Nb Hybrid Quantum Device
• Kwant: a software package for quantum transport
• Majorana fermions in a tunable semiconductor device
• Observation of the fractional ac Josephson effect: the signature of Majorana particles
• Majorana Zero Modes and Topological Quantum Computation
• Exponential Protection of Zero Modes in Majorana Islands
• Josephson Current and Noise at a Superconductor-Quantum Spin Hall Insulator-Superconductor Junction
• Colloquium: Majorana Fermions in nuclear, particle and solid-state physics
• Introduction to topological superconductivity and Majorana fermions
• Superconductor-Nanowire Devices from Tunneling to the Multichannel Regime: Zero-Bias Oscillations and Magnetoconductance Crossover
• Anomalous modulation of a zero bias peak in a hybrid nanowire-superconductor device
• Observation of Majorana fermions with spin selective Andreev reflection in the vortex of topological superconductor
• Spin-resolved Andreev levels and parity crossings in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanostructures
• Non-Abelian quantum order in spin-orbit-coupled semiconductors: The search for topological Majorana particles in solid state systems
• Zero-bias peaks in spin-orbit coupled superconducting wires with and without Majorana end-states
• Majorana Fermions in Semiconductor Nanowires: Fundamentals, Modeling, and Experiment
• AC JOSEPHSON EFFECT IN A SINGLE QUANTUM CHANNEL
• $4\pi$-periodic Josephson supercurrent in HgTe-based topological Josephson junctions
• Near-zero-energy end states in topologically trivial spin-orbit coupled superconducting nanowires with a smooth confinement
• Fractional ac Josephson effect in p- and d-wave superconductors
• Midgap edge states and pairing symmetry of quasi-one-dimensional organic superconductors
• Class D spectral peak in Majorana quantum wires
• Edge-mode Superconductivity in a Two Dimensional Topological Insulator
• AC Josephson effect in finite-length nanowire junctions with Majorana modes
• Tunneling Spectroscopy of Quasiparticle Bound States in a Spinful Josephson Junction
• Detection of Quantum Noise from an Electrically-Driven Two-Level System
• Dynamical detection of Majorana fermions in current-biased nanowires
• Non-equilibrium Josephson effect through helical edge states
• A road to reality with topological superconductors
• Phenomenology and Dynamics of Majorana Josephson Junction
• Ac Josephson Effect in Topological Josephson Junctions
• AC Josephson effect and resonant Cooper pair tunneling emission of a Cooper Pair Transistor
• Bound states of a ferromagnetic wire in a superconductor
• Josephson effect in superconducting wires supporting multiple Majorana edge states
• Josephson junction detectors for Majorana modes and Dirac fermions
• Fractional Josephson effect in a quadruple quantum dot
• Proposed Detection of the Topological Phase in Ring-Shaped Semiconductor-Superconductor Nanowires Using Coulomb Blockade Transport

Cited by in corpus (31)

• Realizing Majorana zero modes in superconductor-semiconductor heterostructures
• Measuring Majorana non-locality and spin structure with a quantum dot
• Majorana nanowires for topological quantum computation
• Missing Shapiro steps in topologically trivial Josephson Junction on InAs quantum well
• Josephson junction dynamics in the presence of $2\pi$- and $4\pi$-periodic supercurrents
• Signatures of a 4$\pi$-periodic supercurrent in the voltage response of capacitively shunted topological Josephson junctions
• Recent progress on Majorana in semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures--Engineering and detection
• Quench Dynamics of Josephson Current in a Topological Josephson Junction
• Doubled Shapiro Steps in a Topological Josephson Junction
• Characterization of Shapiro steps in the presence of a 4π-periodic Josephson current
• Quasiparticle poisoning effects on the dynamics of topological Josephson junctions
• Dissipation-enabled fractional Josephson effect
• Probing Topological Superconductivity of oxide nanojunctions using fractional Shapiro steps
• Evolution of $4\pi$-periodic Supercurrent in the Presence of In-plane Magnetic Field
• Proposal for measuring the parity anomaly in a topological superconductor ring
• Period-doubling in the phase dynamics of a shunted HgTe quantum well Josephson junction
• Fraunhofer pattern in the presence of Majorana zero modes
• Unusual Superconducting Proximity Effect in Magnetically Doped Topological Josephson Junctions
• Edge supercurrent in Josephson junctions based on topological materials
• Photonic cross-noise spectroscopy of Majorana bound states
• Transport theory for topological Josephson junctions with a Majorana qubit
• Challenges in detecting topological superconducting transitions via supercurrent and phase probes in planar Josephson junctions
• Distinguishing Majorana bound states and Andreev bound states with microwave spectra
• Superconductor/normal-metal/superconductor junction of topological superconductors revisited: Fractional Josephson current, fermion parity, and oscillating wavefunctions
• Kitaev ring threaded by a magnetic flux: Topological gap, Anderson localization of quasiparticles, and divergence of supercurrent derivative
• From Majorana fermions to topological quantum computation in semiconductor/superconductor heterostructures
• Time-dependent driving and topological protection in the fractional Josephson effect
• Interedge backscattering in time-reversal symmetric quantum spin Hall Josephson junctions
• Detecting Majorana modes through Josephson junction ring-quantum dot hybrid architectures
• Ubiquitous missing first Shapiro step in Al-InSb nanosheet Josephson junctions
• Josephson radiation patterns in underdamped topological Josephson junctions