Distinguishing trivial and topological zero energy states in long nanowire junctions

Abstract

The emergence of zero energy states in non-topological superconductors represents an inevitable problem that obscures the proper identification of zero energy Majorana bound states (MBSs) and prevents their use as topologically protected qubits. In this Research Letter we investigate long superconductor-normal-superconductor junctions where trivial zero energy states, robust over a large range of parameters, appear as a result of helicity and confinement in the normal region. We demonstrate that both equilibrium supercurrents and critical currents are sensitive to variations in the length of the superconductor regions in the topological phase hosting MBSs, but, remarkably, no such length dependence exists when robust, but trivial, zero energy states are present. This strikingly different response originates from the non-local nature of the MBSs and we, therefore, propose it as a simple protocol for distinguishing between trivial and topological zero energy states.

7 pages, 3 figures + 3 pages supplemental material. Published version

References in corpus (27)

• Non-Abelian Anyons and Topological Quantum Computation
• Signatures of Majorana fermions in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanowire devices
• Majorana Fermions and a Topological Phase Transition in Semiconductor-Superconductor Heterostructures
• Majorana bound states in a coupled quantum-dot hybrid-nanowire system
• Tunable Supercurrent Through Semiconductor Nanowires
• Scaling of Majorana Zero-Bias Conductance Peaks
• Transport spectroscopy of NS nanowire junctions with Majorana fermions
• Towards a realistic transport modeling in a superconducting nanowire with Majorana fermions
• A Majorana smoking gun for the superconductor-semiconductor hybrid topological system
• Observing Majorana Bound States in p-wave Superconductors Using Noise Measurements in Tunneling Experiments
• Ballistic superconductivity in semiconductor nanowires
• SNS junctions in nanowires with spin-orbit coupling: role of confinement and helicity on the sub-gap spectrum
• Fermion-parity anomaly of the critical supercurrent in the quantum spin-Hall effect
• Andreev rectifier: a nonlocal conductance signature of topological phase transitions
• Transparent Semiconductor-Superconductor Interface and Induced Gap in an Epitaxial Heterostructure Josephson Junction
• Majorana splitting from critical currents in Josephson junctions
• On controlling the bound states in quantum-dot hybrid-nanowire
• Supercurrent and multiple Andreev reflections in an InSb nanowire Josephson junction
• Three-terminal nonlocal conductance in Majorana nanowires: Distinguishing topological and trivial in realistic systems with disorder and inhomogeneous potential
• A perspective on semiconductor-based superconducting qubits
• Supercurrent interference in few-mode nanowire Josephson junctions
• Conductance behavior in nanowires with spin-orbit interaction -- A numerical study
• Quantum-Dot Parity Effects in Trivial and Topological Josephson Junctions
• Pinning of Andreev bound states to zero energy in two-dimensional superconductor-semiconductor Rashba heterostructures
• Absence of supercurrent sign reversal in a topological junction with a quantum dot
• Transmission Amplitude through a Coulomb blockaded Majorana Wire
• Spin filtering in germanium/silicon core/shell nanowires with pseudo-helical gap

Cited by in corpus (37)

• Majorana nanowires for topological quantum computation
• Roadmap towards Majorana qubits and nonabelian physics in quantum dot-based minimal Kitaev chains
• Theory of Majorana zero modes in unconventional superconductors
• Superconducting phenomena in systems with unconventional magnets
• Enhancing the Josephson diode effect with Majorana bound states
• Josephson effect and odd-frequency pairing in superconducting junctions with unconventional magnets
• Partially-separated Majorana modes in a disordered medium
• Majorana/Andreev crossover and the fate of the topological phase transition in inhomogeneous nanowires
• Zero-frequency supercurrent susceptibility signatures of trivial and topological zero-energy states in nanowire junctions
• Non-Hermitian phase-biased Josephson junctions
• Josephson Diode Effect in Topological Superconductor
• Identifying trivial and Majorana zero-energy modes using the Majorana polarization
• Majorana bound states in a superconducting Rashba nanowire in the presence of antiferromagnetic order
• Robust topological superconductivity in weakly coupled nanowire-superconductor hybrid structures
• Non-Hermitian zero-energy pinning of Andreev and Majorana bound states in superconductor-semiconductor systems
• Entanglement measures of Majorana bound states
• Detecting Majorana modes by readout of poisoning-induced parity flips
• Josephson diode effect with Andreev and Majorana bound states
• Effect of topological length on Bound states signatures in a Topological nanowire
• Odd-frequency superconducting pairing due to multiple Majorana edge modes in driven topological superconductors
• Odd-frequency pairing due to Majorana and trivial Andreev bound states
• Anomalous proximity effect under Andreev and Majorana bound states
• Enhanced $2\pi$-periodic Aharonov-Bohm Effect as a Signature of Majorana Zero Modes Probed by Nonlocal Measurements
• Stabilizing topological superconductivity in disordered spin-orbit coupled semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures
• Disorder effects in planar semiconductor-superconductor structures: Majorana wires versus Josephson junctions
• Proximity-induced zero-energy states indistinguishable from topological edge states
• Non-Hermitian Josephson junctions with four Majorana zero modes
• Nonlocal Josephson diode effect in minimal Kitaev chains
• Assessing bound states in a one-dimensional topological superconductor: Majorana versus Tamm
• Topological zero modes and bounded modes at smooth domain walls: Exact solutions and dualities
• Majorana polarization in disordered heterostructures
• Confinement-induced zero-bias peaks in conventional superconductor hybrids
• The Josephson effect in Fibonacci superconductors
• Zero energy modes with Gaussian, exponential, or polynomial decay: Exact solutions in hermitian and nonhermitian regimes
• Entanglement dynamics in minimal Kitaev chains
• Odd-frequency Pairing in Josephson Junctions Coupled by Magnetic Textures
• Influence of Magnetic Order on Proximity-Induced Superconductivity in Mn Layers on Nb(110) from First Principles