arXiv subjects

Jay D. Sau

Publications and source records attributed to Jay D. Sau.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Competing charge-density-wave, magnetic and topological ground states at and near Dirac points in graphene in axial magnetic fields

In the presence of axial magnetic fields that can be realized in deliberately buckled monolayer graphene, quasi-relativistic Dirac fermions may find themselves in a variety of broken symmetry phases even for weak interactions. Through a detailed Hartree self-consistent numerical calculation in finite strained graphene with cylindrical and open boundaries we establish the possibility of realizing a charge-density-wave order for the spinless fermions in the presence of weak nearest-neighbor repulsion. Such an instability gives rise to a staggered pattern of average fermionic density between bulk and boundary of the system as well as among two sublattices of graphene, due to the spatial separation of the zero energy states localized on opposite sublattices. Although with fermions spin restored, an unconventional magnetic order driven by the onsite repulsion, possibly leads to the dominant instability at the Dirac point, the proposed charge-density-wave order can nevertheless be realized at finite doping, which is always accompanied by a finite ferromagnetic moment. Additionally, the charge-density-wave phase supports a quantized charge or spin Hall conductivity when its formation away from the Dirac point is further preceded by the appearance of topological anomalous or spin Hall insulator respectively. The topological orders in strained graphene can be supported by weak second neighbor repulsion, for example. Therefore, depending on the relative strength of various short-range components of the Coulomb interaction a number of broken symmetry phases can be realized within the zero energy manifold in strained graphene.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Generalized Eilenberger theory for Majorana zero-mode-carrying disordered $p$-wave superconductors

Disorder is known to suppress the gap of a topological superconducting state that would support non-Abelian Majorana zero modes. In this paper, we study using the self-consistent Born approximation the robustness of the Majorana modes to disorder within a suitably extended Eilenberger theory, in which the spatial dependence of the localized Majorana wave functions is included. We find that the Majorana mode becomes delocalized with increasing disorder strength as the topological superconducting gap is suppressed. However, surprisingly, the zero bias peak seems to survive even for disorder strength exceeding the critical value necessary for closing the superconducting gap within the Born approximation.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Suppressing defect production during passage through a quantum critical point

We show that a closed quantum system driven through a quantum critical point with two rates $ω_1$ (which controls its proximity to the quantum critical point) and $ω_2$ (which controls the dispersion of the low-energy quasiparticles at the critical point) exhibits novel scaling laws for defect density $n$ and residual energy $Q$. We demonstrate suppression of both $n$ and $Q$ with increasing $ω_2$ leading to an alternate route to achieving near-adiabaticity in a finite time for a quantum system during its passage through a critical point. We provide an exact solution for such dynamics with linear drive protocols applied to a class of integrable models, supplement this solution with scaling arguments applicable to generic many-body Hamiltonians, and discuss specific models and experimental systems where our theory may be tested.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2013

Magnetic Field Response and Chiral Symmetry of Time Reversal Invariant Topological Superconductors

We study the magnetic field response of the Majorana Kramers pairs of a one-dimensional time-reversal invariant (TRI) superconductors (class DIII) with or without a coexisting chirality symmetry. For unbroken TR and chirality invariance the parameter regimes for nontrivial values of the (Z_2) DIII-invariant and the (Z) chiral invariant coincide. However, broken TR may or may not be accompanied by broken chirality, and if chiral symmetry is unbroken, the pair of Majorana fermions (MFs) at a given end survives the loss of TR symmetry in an entire plane perpendicular to the spin-orbit coupling field. Conversely, we show that broken chirality may or may not be accompanied by broken TR, and if TR is unbroken, the pair of MFs survives the loss of broken chirality. In addition to explaining the anomalous magnetic field response of all the DIII class TS systems proposed in the literature, we provide a realistic route to engineer a "true" TR-invariant TS, whose pair of MFs at each end is split by an applied Zeeman field in arbitrary direction. We also prove that, quite generally, the splitting of the MFs by TR-breaking fields in TRI superconductors is highly anisotropic in spin space, even in the absence of the topological chiral symmetry.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Enhanced anti-ferromagnetic exchange between magnetic impurities in a superconducting host

It is generally believed that superconductivity only weakly affects the indirect exchange between magnetic impurities. If the distance r between impurities is smaller than than the superconducting coherence length (r < ξ), this exchange is thought to be dominated by RKKY interactions, identical to the those in a normal metallic host. This perception is based upon a perturbative treatment of the exchange interaction. Here, we provide a non-perturbative analysis and demonstrate that the presence of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov bound states induces a strong 1/r^2 anti-ferromagnetic interaction that can dominate over conventional RKKY even at distances significantly smaller than the coherence length. Experimental signatures, implications and applications are discussed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Amplitude mode of the $d$-density wave state and its relevance to high-$T_c$ cuprates

We calculate the spectrum of the amplitude mode, the analog of the Higgs mode in high energy physics, for the $d$-density wave (DDW) state proposed to describe the pseudogap phase of the high $T_c$ cuprates. Even though the state breaks translational symmetry by a lattice spacing and is described by a particle-hole singlet order parameter at the wave vector $q=Q=(π,π)$, remarkably, we find that the amplitude mode spectrum can have peaks at both $q=(0,0)$ and $q=Q=(π,π)$; we shall lattice spacing to unity. In general, the spectrum is non-universal, and, depending on the microscopic parameters, can have one or two peaks in the Brillouin zone, signifying existence of two kinds of magnetic excitations. Our theory sheds important light on how multiple inelastic neutron peaks at different wave vectors can, in principle, arise even with an order parameter that condenses at $Q=(π,π)$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Density of states of disordered topological superconductor-semiconductor hybrid nanowires

Using Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) equations we numerically calculate the disorder averaged density of states of disordered semiconductor nanowires driven into a putative topological p-wave superconducting phase by spin-orbit coupling, Zeeman spin splitting and s-wave superconducting proximity effect induced by a nearby superconductor. Comparing with the corresponding theoretical self-consistent Born approximation (SCBA) results treating disorder effects, we comment on the topological phase diagram of the system in the presence of increasing disorder. Although disorder strongly suppresses the zero-bias peak (ZBP) associated with the Majorana zero mode, we find some clear remnant of a ZBP even when the topological gap has essentially vanished in the SCBA theory because of disorder. We explicitly compare effects of disorder on the numerical density of states in the topological and trivial phases.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

To close or not to close: the fate of the superconducting gap across the topological quantum phase transition in Majorana-carrying semiconductor nanowires

We investigate theoretically the low energy physics of semiconductor Majorana wires in the vicinity of a magnetic field-driven topological quantum phase transition (TQPT). The local density of states (LDOS) at the end of the wire, which is directly related to the differential conductance in the limit of point-contact tunneling, is calculated numerically. We find that the dependence of the end-of-wire LDOS on the magnetic field is non-universal and that the signatures associated with the closing of the superconducting gap at the Majorana TQPT are essentially invisible within a significant range of experimentally relevant parameters. Our results provide an explanation for the recent observation of the apparent non-closure of the gap at the Majorana TQPT in semiconductor nanowires.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Zero bias conductance peak in Majorana wires made of semiconductor-superconductor hybrid structures

Motivated by a recent experimental report[1] claiming the likely observation of the Majorana mode in a semiconductor-superconductor hybrid structure[2,3,4,5], we study theoretically the dependence of the zero bias conductance peak associated with the zero-energy Majorana mode in the topological superconducting phase as a function of temperature, tunnel barrier potential, and a magnetic field tilted from the direction of the wire for realistic wires of finite lengths. We find that higher temperatures and tunnel barriers as well as a large magnetic field in the direction transverse to the wire length could very strongly suppress the zero-bias conductance peak as observed in Ref.[1]. We also show that a strong magnetic field along the wire could eventually lead to the splitting of the zero bias peak into a doublet with the doublet energy splitting oscillating as a function of increasing magnetic field. Our results based on the standard theory of topological superconductivity in a semiconductor hybrid structure in the presence of proximity-induced superconductivity, spin-orbit coupling, and Zeeman splitting show that the recently reported experimental data are generally consistent with the existing theory that led to the predictions for the existence of the Majorana modes in the semiconductor hybrid structures in spite of some apparent anomalies in the experimental observations at first sight. We also make several concrete new predictions for future observations regarding Majorana splitting in finite wires used in the experiments.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

A Majorana smoking gun for the superconductor-semiconductor hybrid topological system

Recent observations of a zero bias conductance peak in tunneling transport measurements in superconductor--semiconductor nanowire devices provide evidence for the predicted zero--energy Majorana modes, but not the conclusive proof for their existence. We establish that direct observation of a splitting of the zero bias conductance peak can serve as the smoking gun evidence for the existence of the Majorana mode. We show that the splitting has an oscillatory dependence on the Zeeman field (chemical potential) at fixed chemical potential (Zeeman field). By contrast, when the density is constant rather than the chemical potential -- the likely situation in the current experimental set-ups -- the splitting oscillations are generically suppressed. Our theory predicts the conditions under which the splitting oscillations can serve as the smoking gun for the experimental confirmation of the elusive Majorana mode.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

On the possibility of the fractional ac Josephson effect in non-topological conventional superconductor-normal-superconductor junctions

Topological superconductors supporting Majorana Fermions with non-abelian statistics are presently a subject of intense theoretical and experimental effort. It has been proposed that the observation of a half-frequency or a fractional Josephson effect is a more reliable test for topological superconductivity than the search for end zero modes. Low-energy end modes can occur accidentally due to impurities. In fact, the fractional Josephson effect has been observed for the semiconductor nanowire system. Here we consider the ac Josephson effect in a conventional s-wave superconductor-normal metal-superconductor junction at a finite voltage. Using a Floquet-Keldysh treatment of the finite voltage junction, we show that the power dissipated from the junction, which measures the ac Josephson effect, can show a peak at half (or even incommensurate fractions) of the Josephson frequency. A similar conclusion is shown to hold for the Shapiro step measurement. The ac fractional Josephson peak can also be understood simply in terms of Landau-Zener processes associated with the Andreev bound state spectrum of the junction.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Shiba impurity bound states as a probe of topological superconductivity and Fermion parity changing quantum phase transitions

Spin-orbit coupled superconductors are potentially interesting candidates for realizing topological and potentially non-Abelian states with Majorana Fermions. We argue that time-reversal broken spin-orbit coupled superconductors generically can be characterized as having sub-gap states that are bound to localized non-magnetic impurities. Such bound states, which are referred to as Shiba states, can be detected as sharp resonances in the tunneling spectrum of the spin-orbit coupled superconductors. The Shiba state resonance can be tuned using a gate-voltage or a magnetic field from being at the edge of the gap at zero magnetic fields to crossing zero energy when the Zeeman splitting is tuned into the topological superconducting regime. The zero-crossing signifies a Fermion parity changing first order quantum phase transition, which is characterized by a Pfaffian topological invariant. These zero-crossings of the impurity level can be used to locally characterize the topological superconducting state from tunneling experiments.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Conductance beyond the Landauer limit and charge pumping in quantum wires

Periodically driven systems, which can be described by Floquet theory, have been proposed to show characteristic behavior that is distinct from static Hamiltonians. Floquet theory proposes to describe such periodically driven systems in terms of states that are indexed by a photon number in addition to the usual Hilbert space of the system. We propose a way to measure directly this additional Floquet degree of freedom by the measurement of the DC conductance of a single channel quantum point contact. Specifically, we show that a single channel wire augmented with a grating structure when irradiated with microwave radiation can show a DC conductance above the limit of one conductance quantum set by the Landauer formula. Another interesting feature of the proposed system is that being non-adiabatic in character, it can be used to pump a strong gate-voltage dependent photo-current even with linearly polarized radiation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Experimental and materials considerations for the topological superconducting state in electron and hole doped semiconductors: searching for non-Abelian Majorana modes in 1D nanowires and 2D heterostructures

In proximity to an s-wave superconductor, a one- or two-dimensional, electron- or hole-doped semiconductor with a sizable spin-orbit coupling and a Zeeman splitting can support a topological superconducting (TS) state. The semiconductor TS state has Majorana fermions as localized zero-energy excitations at order parameter defects such as vortices and sample edges. Here we examine the effects of quenched disorder from the semiconductor surface on the stability of the TS state in both electron- and hole-doped semiconductors. By considering the interplay of broken time reversal symmetry (due to Zeeman splitting) and disorder we derive an expression for the disorder suppression of the superconducting quasiparticle gap in the TS state. We conclude that the effects of disorder can be minimized by increasing the ratio of the spin-orbit energy with the Zeeman splitting. By giving explicit numbers we show that a stable TS state is possible in both electron- and hole-doped semiconductors for experimentally realistic values of parameters. We discuss possible suitable semiconductor materials which should be the leading candidates for the Majorana search in solid state systems.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Topologically non-trivial superfluid phases and Majorana fermions from Kohn-Luttinger effect

Spin-triplet p-wave superfluids of single-species (or spin-polarized) fermionic atoms is a topological superfluid. In 2D such a superfluid supports zero-energy topological Majorana fermion excitations in order parameter defects such as vortices and sample edges. In 3D these superfluids support topologically protected Dirac points in the bulk spectrum and flat surface Majorana arcs. Despite the promise, creating a spin-triplet p-wave single-species fermionic superfluid either from direct p-wave Feshbach resonance or indirectly from the recently proposed artificial spin-orbit and Zeeman couplings can be technologically challenging. Here we show that such topological superfluids can be far more simply created by using the Kohn-Luttinger effect applied to two species of spin-polarized fermions with a density imbalance. We discuss how the topological Majorana excitations of the resulting superfluids can be identified using recently-developed experimental techniques.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2012

Topological invariants for spin-orbit coupled superconductor nanowires

We show that a spin-orbit coupled semiconductor nanowire with Zeeman splitting and s-wave superconductivity is in symmetry class BDI (not D as is commonly thought) of the topological classification of band Hamiltonians. The class BDI allows for an integer Z topological invariant equal to the number of Majorana fermion (MF) modes at each end of the quantum wire protected by the chirality symmetry (reality of the Hamiltonian). Thus it is possible for this system (and all other d=1 models related to it by symmetry) to have an arbitrary integer number, not just 0 or 1 as is commonly assumed, of MFs localized at each end of the wire. The integer counting the number of MFs at each end reduces to 0 or 1, and the class BDI reduces to D, in the presence of terms in the Hamiltonian that break the chirality symmetry.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Majorana resonances and how to avoid them in periodic topological superconductor-nanowire structures

Semiconducting nanowires in proximity to superconductors are promising experimental systems for Majorana fermions which may ultimately be used as building blocks for topological quantum computers. A serious challenge in the experimental realization of the Majorana fermion in these semiconductor-superconductor nanowire structures is tuning the semiconductor chemical potential in close proximity to the metallic superconductor. We show that, presently realizable structures in experiments with tunable chemical potential lead to Majorana resonances, which are interesting in their own right, but do not manifest non-Abelian statistics. This poses a central challenge to the field. We show how to overcome this challenge, thus resolving a crucial barrier to the solid state realization of a topological system containing the Majorana fermion. We propose a new topological superconducting array structure where introducing the superconducting proximity effect from adjacent nanowires generates Majorana fermions with non-Abelian statistics.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2011

How to realize a robust practical Majorana chain in a quantum dot-superconductor linear array

Semiconducting nanowires in proximity to superconductors are promising experimental systems for Majorana fermions, which may ultimately be used as building blocks for topological quantum computers. A serious challenge in the experimental realization of the Majorana fermions is the supression of topological superconductivity by disorder. We show that Majorana fermions protected by a robust topological gap can occur at the ends of a chain of quantum dots connected by s-wave superconductors. In the appropriate parameter regime, we establish that the quantum dot/superconductor system is equivalent to a 1D Kitaev chain, which can be tuned to be in a robust topological phase with Majorana end modes even in the case where the quantum dots and superconductors are both strongly disordered. Such a spin-orbit coupled quantum dot - s-wave superconductor array provides an ideal experimental platform for the observation of non-Abelian Majorana modes.

cond-mat.supr-con↗