Engineering the spin couplings in atomically crafted spin chains on an elemental superconductor

Abstract

Magnetic atoms on a superconductor give rise to Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) states within the superconducting energy gap. A spin chain of magnetic adatoms on an s-wave superconductor may lead to topological superconductivity accompanied by the emergence of Majorana modes at the chain ends. For their usage in quantum computation, it is a prerequisite to artificially assemble the chains and control the exchange couplings between the spins in the chain and in the substrate. Here, using a scanning tunneling microscope tip, we demonstrate engineering of the energy levels of the YSR states by placing interstitial Fe atoms in close proximity to adsorbed Fe atoms on an oxidized Ta surface. Based on this prototype platform, we show that the interaction within a long chain can be strengthened by linking the adsorbed Fe atoms with the interstitial ones. Our work adds an important step towards the controlled design and manipulation of Majorana end states.

arXiv comment24 pages

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Cited by in corpus (40)

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• Controlling in-gap end states by linking nonmagnetic atoms and artificially-constructed spin chains on superconductors
• Majorana Fermions in Magnetic Chains
• Edge-dependent topology in Kekulé lattices
• Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states in real metals
• Observation of tunable single-atom Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states
• p-band engineering in artificial electronic lattices
• Two-Impurity Yu-Shiba-Rusinov States in Coupled Quantum Dots
• Non-Majorana modes in diluted spin chains proximitized to a superconductor
• Transition from Quantum Chaos to Localization in Spin Chains
• Atomic Manipulation of In-gap States on the $\beta$-Bi${}_2$Pd Superconductor
• Generalized atomic limit of a double quantum dot coupled to superconducting leads
• Large spatial extension of the zero-energy Yu-Shiba-Rusinov state in magnetic field
• Quantum Yu-Shiba-Rusinov dimers
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• Nano-Patterned Magnetic Edges in CrGeTe3 for Quasi 1-D Spintronic Devices
• Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states in 2D superconductors with arbitrary Fermi contours
• Majorana bound states in magnetic impurity chains: effects of $d$-wave pairing
• Wave-function engineering on superconducting substrates: Chiral Yu-Shiba-Rusinov molecules
• Inducing a many-body topological state of matter through Coulomb-engineered local interactions
• First principles study of topological phase in chains of $3d$ transition metals
• Yu-Shiba-Rusinov States and Ordering of Magnetic Impurities Near the Boundary of a Superconducting Nanowire
• Probing the chirality of 1D Majorana edge states around a 2D nanoflake in a superconductor
• Quantum spin driven Yu-Shiba-Rusinov multiplets and fermion-parity-preserving phase transition in K${}_3$C${}_{60}$
• An atomically thin oxide layer on the elemental superconductor Ta(001) surface
• Shiba states in systems with density of states singularities
• Subgap states at ferromagnetic and spiral-ordered magnetic chains in two-dimensional superconductors. I. Continuum description
• Fractional Spin Quantum Hall Effect in Weakly Coupled Spin Chain Arrays
• Investigation of the Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states of a multi-impurity Kondo system
• A proposal for realizing Majorana fermions without external magnetic field in strongly correlated nanowires
• Floquet Control of Indirect Exchange Interaction in Periodically Driven Two-Dimensional Electron Systems
• Probing nonlocal correlations in magnetic rare-earth clusters
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• Designer quantum matter in van der Waals heterostructures
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