Crystalline symmetry protected helical Majorana modes in the iron pnictides

Abstract

We propose that propagating one-dimensional Majorana fermions will develop in the vortex cores of certain iron-based superconductors, most notably Li(Fe${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$)As. A key ingredient of this proposal are the 3D Dirac cones recently observed in ARPES experiments [P. Zhang et al., Nat. Phys. $\text{15}$, 41 (2019)]. Using an effective Hamiltonian around the $\Gamma -Z$ line we demonstrate the development of gapless one-dimensional helical Majorana modes, protected by $C_4$ symmetry. A topological index is derived which links the helical Majorana modes to the presence of monopoles in the Berry curvature of the normal state. We present various experimental consequences of this theory and discuss its possible connections with cosmic strings.

arXiv comment4 pages + Supplement. Accepted in Phys. Rev. Lett

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• Topological Superconducting Vortex From Trivial Electronic Bands
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• Inhomogeneous Knight shift in vortex cores of superconducting FeSe
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• Evolution of the intertwining correlated topological phases in iron-based superconductor Fe(Te,Se)