Survival of the fractional Josephson effect in time-reversal-invariant topological superconductors

Abstract

Time-reversal-invariant topological superconductor (TRITOPS) wires host Majorana Kramers pairs that have been predicted to mediate a fractional Josephson effect with $4\pi$ periodicity in the superconducting phase difference. We explore the TRITOPS fractional Josephson effect in the presence of time-dependent `local mixing' perturbations that instantaneously preserve time-reversal symmetry. Specifically, we show that just as such couplings render braiding of Majorana Kramers pairs non-universal, the Josephson current becomes either aperiodic or $2\pi$-periodic (depending on conditions that we quantify) unless the phase difference is swept sufficiently quickly. We further analyze topological superconductors with $\mathcal{T}^2 = +1$ time-reversal symmetry and reveal a rich interplay between interactions and local mixing that can be experimentally probed in nanowire arrays.