A topological flux trap: Majorana bound states at screw dislocations

Abstract

The engineering of non-trivial topology in superconducting heterostructures is a very challenging task. Reducing the number of components in the system would facilitate the creation of the long-sought Majorana bound states. Here, we explore a route toward emergent topology in a trivial superconductor without a need for other proximitized materials. Specifically, we show that a vortex hosting an even number of flux quanta is capable of forming a quasi-one-dimensional topological sub-system that can be mapped to the Kitaev wire, if the vortex is trapped at a screw dislocation. This crystallographic defect breaks inversion symmetry and thereby threads a local spin-orbit coupling through the superconductor. The vortex-dislocation pair in the otherwise trivial bulk can harbor a pair of Majorana bound states located at the two surface terminations. We explain the topological transition in terms of a band inversion in the Caroli-de Gennes-Matricon vortex bound states and discuss favorable material parameters.

7+1 pages, 3 figures

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Perspective: Challenges and Transformative Opportunities in Superconductor Vortex Physics
• Identification of multiple-flux-quanta vortices by core states in the two-band superconductor Pb
• Identifying Majorana vortex modes via non-local transport