Rosa Giuliano | Searcharxiv

arXiv2017

Persistent current and zero-energy Majorana modes in a p-wave disordered superconducting ring

We discuss the emergence of zero-energy Majorana modes in a disordered finite-length p-wave one-dimensional superconducting ring, pierced by a magnetic flux $Φ$ tuned at an appropriate value $Φ=Φ_*$. In the absence of fermion parity conservation, we evidence the emergence of the Majorana modes by looking at the discontinuities in the persistent current $I[Φ]$ at $Φ=Φ_*$. By monitoring the discontinuities in $I[Φ]$, we map out the region in parameter space characterized by the emergence of Majorana modes in the disordered ring.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Transfer matrix approach to the persistent current in hybrid normal-superconducting rings

Using the properties of the transfer matrix of one-dimensional quantum mechanical systems, we derive a technique to exactly compute the persistent current across a hybrid normal-superconducting-mesoscopic ring pierced by a magnetic flux Phi as a single integral of a known function of the system's parameters. Our approach provides exact results at zero temperature, which can be readily extended to finite temperatures T much below the superconducting gap. We apply our technique to derive the persistent current through p-wave and s-wave superconducting-normal hybrid rings, recovering at once a number of effects such as the crossover in the current periodicity on increasing the size of the ring and the signature of the topological phase transition in the p-wave case. In the limit of a large ring size, resorting to a systematic expansion in inverse powers of the ring length, we derive exact analytic closed-form formulas, applicable to a number of cases of physical interest.

cond-mat.str-el↗