Tunable zero-energy Dirac and Luttinger nodes in a two-dimensional topological superconductor

Abstract

Cooper pairing in ultrathin films of topological insulators, induced intrinsically or by proximity effect, can produce an energetically favorable spin-triplet superconducting state. The spin-orbit coupling acts as an SU(2) gauge field and stimulates the formation of a spin-current vortex lattice in this superconducting state. Here we study the Bogoliubov quasiparticles in such a state and find that the quasiparticle spectrum consists of a number of Dirac nodes pinned to zero energy by the particle-hole symmetry. Some nodes are "accidental" and move through the first Brillouin zone along high-symmetry directions as the order parameter magnitude or the strength of the spin-orbit coupling are varied. At special parameter values, nodes forming neutral quadruplets merge and become gapped out, temporarily producing a quadratic band-touching spectrum. All these features are tunable by controlling the order parameter magnitude via a gate voltage in a heterostructure device. In addition to analyzing the spectrum at the mean-field level, we briefly discuss a few experimental signatures of this spectrum.

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