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Andreas Hadjipaschalis

Publications and source records attributed to Andreas Hadjipaschalis.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Collinear altermagnetism for 3D chiral higher-order topological insulators

Despite significant progress in the study of higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs), the chiral $C_4\mathcal{T}$-protected HOTI has remained elusive in electronic materials, where $C_4\mathcal{T}$ denotes the product of a four-fold rotation and time-reversal symmetry. We show that altermagnetism, a recently discovered form of collinear magnetism, provides a new route to realize this elusive phase. Specifically, we construct a microscopic model that combines a three-dimensional topological insulator with a collinear $d$-wave altermagnet on a Lieb lattice. Through analytical and numerical calculations, we show that the magnetism shifts and gaps the surface Dirac cones to produce the desired chiral hinge channels. Finally, we identify promising material classes to realise our proposal. Our results establish collinear altermagnetism as a route to intrinsic chiral higher-order topology and open a new path toward the discovery of $C_4\mathcal{T}$-protected HOTIs in real materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Majoranas with a twist: Tunable Majorana zero modes in altermagnetic heterostructures

Altermagnetism provides new routes to realize Majorana zero modes with vanishing net magnetization. We consider a recently proposed heterostructure consisting of a semiconducting wire on top of an altermagnet and with proximity-induced superconductivity. We demonstrate that rotating the wire serves as a tuning knob to induce the topological phase. For $d$-, $g$- and $i$-wave altermagnetic pairing, we derive angle-dependent topological gap-closing conditions. We derive symmetry constraints on angles where the induced altermagnetism must vanish, which we verify by explicit models. Our results imply that a bent or curved wire realizes a spatially-dependent topological invariant with Majorana zero modes pinned to positions where the topological invariant changes. This provides a new experimental set-up whereby a single wire can host both topologically trivial and nontrivial regimes without $in$ $situ$ tuning.

cond-mat.mes-hall