Electron temperature and tunnel coupling dependence of zero-bias and almost-zero-bias conductance peaks in Majorana nanowires

Abstract

A one-dimensional semiconductor nanowire proximitized by a nearby superconductor may become a topological superconductor hosting localized Majorana zero modes at the two wire ends in the presence of spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman spin splitting (arising from an external magnetic field). The hallmark of the presence of such Majorana zero modes is the appearance of a zero-temperature quantized zero-bias conductance peak in the tunneling spectroscopy of the Majorana nanowire. We theoretically study the temperature and the tunnel coupling dependence of the tunneling conductance in such nanowires to understand possible intrinsic deviations from the predicted conductance quantization. We find that the full temperature and the tunneling transmission dependence of the tunnel conductance does not obey any simple scaling relation, and estimating the zero-temperature conductance from finite-temperature and finite-tunnel-broadening tunneling data is difficult in general. A scaling relation, however, does hold at the extreme weak-tunneling low-temperature limit where the conductance depends only on the dimensionless ratio of the temperature and tunnel broadening. We also consider the tunneling contributions from nontopological Andreev bound states which may produce almost-zero-bias conductance peaks, which are not easy to distinguish from the Majorana-induced zero-bias peaks, finding that the nontopological almost-zero-modes associated with Andreev bound states manifest similar temperature and transmission dependence as the topological Majorana modes. We comment on the Zeeman splitting dependence of the zero-bias conductance peak for finite temperature and tunnel coupling.

arXiv comment21 pages, 30 figures. Published version

References in corpus (48)

• Non-Abelian Anyons and Topological Quantum Computation
• 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
• 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
• 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 Zero Modes and Topological Quantum Computation
• Majorana bound states in a coupled quantum-dot hybrid-nanowire system
• Majorana Fermion Induced Resonant Andreev Reflection
• 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
• Tunneling characteristic of a chain of Majorana bound states
• 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
• Scaling of Majorana Zero-Bias Conductance Peaks
• Andreev bound states versus Majorana bound states in quantum dot-nanowire-superconductor hybrid structures: Trivial versus topological zero-bias conductance peaks
• Near-zero-energy end states in topologically trivial spin-orbit coupled superconducting nanowires with a smooth confinement
• Majorana Fermions and Topology in Superconductors
• Zero-bias anomaly in a nanowire quantum dot coupled to superconductors
• Two-dimensional epitaxial superconductor-semiconductor heterostructures: A platform for topological superconducting networks
• A Majorana smoking gun for the superconductor-semiconductor hybrid topological system
• Zero-voltage conductance peak from weak antilocalization in a Majorana nanowire
• Midgap edge states and pairing symmetry of quasi-one-dimensional organic superconductors
• Class D spectral peak in Majorana quantum wires
• Quantum point contact as a probe of a topological superconductor
• Zero-Energy Modes from Coalescing Andreev States in a Two-Dimensional Semiconductor-Superconductor Hybrid Platform
• Measuring Majorana non-locality and spin structure with a quantum dot
• Experimental Phase Diagram of a One-Dimensional Topological Superconductor
• Splitting of Majorana modes due to intervortex tunneling in a p + ip superconductor
• Zero bias conductance peak in Majorana wires made of semiconductor-superconductor hybrid structures
• Spin-polarized transport and Andreev reflection in semiconductor/superconductor hybrid structures
• Role of dissipation in realistic Majorana nanowires
• Effects of large induced superconducting gap on semiconductor Majorana nanowires
• How to infer non-Abelian statistics and topological invariants from tunneling conductance properties of realistic Majorana nanowires
• Proximity effect and Majorana bound states in clean semiconductor nanowires coupled to disordered superconductors
• Proximity-induced low-energy renormalization in hybrid semiconductor-superconductor Majorana structures
• Conductance of a superconducting Coulomb blockaded Majorana nanowire
• Conductance spectroscopy of topological superconductor wire junctions
• Phenomenology of soft gap, zero bias peak, and zero mode splitting in ideal Majorana nanowires

Cited by in corpus (56)

• Evidence for Majorana bound state in an iron-based superconductor
• Quantized Majorana conductance
• From Andreev to Majorana bound states in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanowires
• Nearly quantized conductance plateau of vortex zero mode in an iron-based superconductor
• Reproducing topological properties with quasi-Majorana states
• Physical mechanisms for zero-bias conductance peaks in Majorana nanowires
• Zero-energy Andreev bound states from quantum dots in proximitized Rashba nanowires
• Majorana nanowires for topological quantum computation
• Distinguishing topological Majorana bound states from trivial Andreev bound states: Proposed tests through differential tunneling conductance spectroscopy
• Estimating disorder and its adverse effects in semiconductor Majorana nanowires
• Atomic line defects and zero-energy end states in monolayer Fe(Te,Se) high-temperature superconductors
• Metallization of Rashba wire by superconducting layer in the strong-proximity regime
• On controlling the bound states in quantum-dot hybrid-nanowire
• Quantifying wave-function overlaps in inhomogeneous Majorana nanowires
• Three-terminal nonlocal conductance in Majorana nanowires: Distinguishing topological and trivial in realistic systems with disorder and inhomogeneous potential
• Quantized conductance of Majorana zero mode in the vortex of the topological superconductor (Li0.84Fe0.16)OHFeSe
• Topological quantum states of matter in iron-based superconductors: From concepts to material realization
• Evidence for Helical Hinge Zero Modes in an Fe-Based Superconductor
• Quantized and unquantized zero-bias tunneling conductance peaks in Majorana nanowires: Conductance below and above $2e^2/h$
• Presence versus absence of end-to-end nonlocal conductance correlations in Majorana nanowires: Majorana bound states versus Andreev bound states
• Dephasing and leakage dynamics of noisy Majorana-based qubits: Topological versus Andreev
• Majorana-like Coulomb spectroscopy in the absence of zero bias peaks
• Disorder effects on Majorana zero modes: Kitaev chain versus semiconductor nanowire
• Zero-energy bound states in the high-temperature superconductors at the two-dimensional limit
• Majorana/Andreev crossover and the fate of the topological phase transition in inhomogeneous nanowires
• Crossover between trivial zero modes in Majorana nanowires
• Pinning of Andreev bound states to zero energy in two-dimensional superconductor-semiconductor Rashba heterostructures
• Majorana Bound States in Double Nanowires with Reduced Zeeman Thresholds due to Supercurrents
• On-demand large-conductance in trivial zero-bias tunneling peaks in Majorana nanowires
• Conductance feature smearing and anisotropic suppression of induced superconductivity in a Majorana nanowire
• Quadrupole spin polarization as signature of second-order topological superconductors
• Effects of the electrostatic environment on superlattice Majorana nanowires
• Progress in superconductor-semiconductor topological Josephson junctions
• Emergent vortex Majorana zero mode in iron-based superconductors
• Feasibility of measurement-based braiding in the quasi-Majorana regime of semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures
• Topological Kondo Device for distinguishing Quasi-Majorana and Majorana signatures
• Quasiparticle gaps in multiprobe Majorana nanowires
• Quality factor for zero-bias conductance peaks in Majorana nanowire
• Theory of Coulomb blockaded transport in realistic Majorana nanowires
• Phonon-Assisted Andreev Reflection at Majorana Zero Mode
• Observation of robust zero-energy state and enhanced superconducting gap in a tri-layer heterostructure of MnTe/Bi2Te3/Fe(Te, Se)
• Proposal for measuring the parity anomaly in a topological superconductor ring
• Temperature Induced Shifts of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov Resonances in Nanowire-Based Hybrid Quantum Dots
• Reveal the non-local coherent nature from a dissipative Majorana teleportation
• Effect of topological length on Bound states signatures in a Topological nanowire
• Random matrix theory for the robustness, quantization, and end-to-end correlation of zero-bias conductance peaks in a class D ensemble
• Germanium-based hybrid semiconductor-superconductor topological quantum computing platforms: Disorder effects
• Searching for Majorana quasiparticles at vortex cores in iron-based superconductors
• Majorana bound states in topological insulators with hidden Dirac points
• Concomitant opening of a topological bulk-gap with an emerging Majorana edge-state
• Dynamical approach to improving Majorana qubits and distinguishing them from trivial bound states
• Transient effects in quantum dots contacted via topological superconductor
• Vision transformer based Deep Learning of Topological indicators in Majorana Nanowires
• Double Fu-teleportation and anomalous Coulomb blockade in a Majorana-hosted superconducting island
• Probing the dichotomy between Yu-Shiba-Rusinov and Majorana bound states via conductance, quantum noise and ${\Delta }_T$ noise
• Quantifying the non-Abelian property of Andreev bound states in inhomogeneous Majorana nanowires