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Abstract

Materials realization of chiral topological superconductivity is a crucial condition for observing and manipulating Majorana fermions in condensed matter physics. Here we develop a tight-binding description of Pb\(_3\)Bi/Ge(111), identified recently as an appealing candidate system for realizing chiral \(p\)-wave topological superconductivity [Nat. Phys. 15, 796 (2019)]. We first show that our phenomenological model can capture the two main features of the electronic band structures obtained from first-principles calculations, namely, the giant Rashba splitting and type-II van Hove singularity. Next, when the \(s\)-wave superconducting property of the parent Pb system is explicitly considered, we find the alloyed system can be tuned into a chiral topological superconductor with Chern number \(\mathcal{C} = -2\), resulting from the synergistic effect of a sufficiently strong Zeeman field and the inherently large Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The nontrivial topology with \(\mathcal{C} = -2\) is further shown to be detectable as two chiral Majorana edge modes propagating along the same direction of the system with proper boundaries. We finally discuss the physically realistic conditions to establish the predicted topological superconductivity and observe the corresponding Majorana edge modes, including the influence of the superconducting gap, Land\'{e} \(g\)-factor, and critical magnetic field. The present study provides useful guides in searching for effective \(p\)-wave superconductivity and Majorana fermions in two-dimensional or related interfacial systems.

Details

1009240
Identifier / keyword
Title
Chiral topological superconducting state with Chern number \(\mathcal{C} =-2\) in Pb\(_3\)Bi/Ge(111)
Publication title
arXiv.org; Ithaca
Publication year
2021
Publication date
Jan 6, 2021
Section
Condensed Matter
Publisher
Cornell University Library, arXiv.org
Source
arXiv.org
Place of publication
Ithaca
Country of publication
United States
University/institution
Cornell University Library arXiv.org
e-ISSN
2331-8422
Source type
Working Paper
Language of publication
English
Document type
Working Paper
Publication history
 
 
Online publication date
2021-06-30
Milestone dates
2020-11-30 (Submission v1); 2021-01-06 (Submission v2)
Publication history
 
 
   First posting date
30 Jun 2021
ProQuest document ID
2465896727
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/working-papers/chiral-topological-superconducting-state-with/docview/2465896727/se-2?accountid=208611
Full text outside of ProQuest
Copyright
© 2021. This work is published under http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.
Last updated
2021-07-01
Database
2 databases
  • ProQuest One Academic
  • ProQuest One Academic