Tunable magnetic textures in spin valves: From spintronics to Majorana bound states

Abstract

Spin-valve structures in which a change of magnetic configuration is responsible for magnetoresistance have enabled impressive advances in spintronics, focusing on magnetically storing and sensing information. However, this mature technology also offers versatile control of the underlying fringing fields and entirely different applications by realizing topologically-nontrivial states. Together with proximity-induced superconductivity in a two-dimensional electron gas, these fringing fields realized in commercially-available spin valves could control Majorana bound states (MBS). Detailed support for the existence and control of MBS is obtained by combining accurate micromagnetic simulation of fringing fields used as an input in Bogoliubov de Gennes equation to calculate low-energy spectrum, wavefunction localization, and local charge neutrality. A generalized condition for quantum phase transition in these structures provides valuable guidance for the MBS evolution and implementing reconfigurable effective topological wires.

8 pages, 7 figures

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Skyrmion-(Anti)Vortex Coupling in a Chiral Magnet-Superconductor Heterostructure
• Tuning Topological Superconductivity in Phase-Controlled Josephson Junctions with Rashba and Dresselhaus Spin-Orbit Coupling
• Aspects of topological superconductivity in 2D systems: noncollinear magnetism, skyrmions, and higher-order topology
• New Microscopic Magnetic Hamiltonian for Exotic Spin Textures in Metals
• Observation of robust zero-energy state and enhanced superconducting gap in a tri-layer heterostructure of MnTe/Bi2Te3/Fe(Te, Se)
• Signatures of Topological Transitions in the Spin Susceptibility of Josephson Junctions