arXiv subjects

Suk Bum Chung

Publications and source records attributed to Suk Bum Chung.

45 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Conductance and noise signatures of Majorana backscattering

We propose a conductance measurement to detect the backscattering of chiral Majorana edge states. Because normal and Andreev processes have equal probability for backscattering of a single chiral Majorana edge state, there is qualitative difference from backscattering of a chiral Dirac edge state, giving rise to half-integer Hall conductivity and decoupling of fluctuation in incoming and outgoing modes. The latter can be detected through thermal noise measurement. These experimental signatures of Majorana fermions are robust at finite temperature and do not require the size of the backscattering region to be mesoscopic.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Detecting the Majorana fermion surface state of $^3$He-B through spin relaxation

The concept of the Majorana fermion has been postulated more than eighty years ago; however, this elusive particle has never been observed in nature. The non-local character of the Majorana fermion can be useful for topological quantum computation. Recently, it has been shown that the 3He-B phase is a time-reversal invariant topological superfluid, with a single component of gapless Majorana fermion state localized on the surface. Such a Majorana surface state contains half the degrees of freedom of the single Dirac surface state recently observed in topological insulators. We show here that the Majorana surface state can be detected through an electron spin relaxation experiment. The Majorana nature of the surface state can be revealed though the striking angular dependence of the relaxation time on the magnetic field direction, $1/T_1 \propto sin^2 θ$ where $θ$ is the angle between the magnetic field and the surface normal. The temperature dependence of the spin relaxation rate can reveal the gapless linear dispersion of the Majorana surface state. We propose a spin relaxation experiment setup where we inject an electron inside a nano-sized bubble below the helium liquid surface.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2009

Fractional vortex lattice structures in spin triplet superconductors

Motivated by recent interest in spin triplet superconductors, we investigate the vortex lattice structures for this class of unconventional superconductors. We discuss how the order parameter symmetry can give rise to U(1)$\times$U(1) symmetry in same sense as in spinor condensates, making half-quantum vortices (HQV) topologically stable. We then calculate the vortex lattice structure of HQV's, with particular attention on the roles of the crystalline lattice, the Zeeman coupling, and Meissner screening, all absent in spinor condensates. Finally, we consider how spin-orbit coupling leads to a breakdown of the U(1)$\times$U(1) symmetry in free energy and whether the HQV lattice survives this symmetry breaking. As examples, we examine simpler spin-triplet models proposed in the context of NaxCoO2$\cdot$yH2O and Bechgaard salts, as well as the better known and more complex model for Sr2RuO4.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2009

Nature of a topological quantum phase transition in a chiral spin liquid model

We study the finite temperature nature of a quantum phase transition between an Abelian and a non-Abelian topological phase in an exactly solvable model of a chiral spin liquid. By virtue of the exact solvability, this model can serve as a testbed for developing better measures for describing topological quantum phase transitions. We characterize this phase transition in terms of the global flux and entanglement entropy, and discuss to what extent the existence of a topologically ordered ground state with non-Abelian excitations is revealed at finite temperature.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2009

Collective modes of a helical liquid

We study low energy collective modes and transport properties of the "helical metal" on the surface of a topological insulator. At low energies, electrical transport and spin dynamics at the surface are exactly related by an operator identity equating the electric current to the in-plane components of the spin degrees of freedom. From this relation it follows that an undamped spin wave always accompanies the sound mode in the helical metal -- thus it is possible to `hear' the sound of spins. In the presence of long range Coulomb interactions, the surface plasmon mode is also coupled to the spin wave, giving rise to a hybridized "spin-plasmon" mode. We make quantitative predictions for the spin-plasmon in ${\rm Bi}_2{\rm Se}_3$, and discuss its detection in a spin-grating experiment.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2007

Stability of half-quantum vorticies in p_x+ip_y superconductors

We consider the stability conditions for half-quantum vortices in quasi two dimensional $p_x+ip_y$ superconductor (such as ${\rm Sr_2 RuO_4}$ is believed to be) through energetics calculations. Although the predicted exotic nature of these excitations have recently attracted much attention but they have not been observed yet. We pay particular attention to the fact that an isolated half quantum vortex has a divergent energy cost in the bulk due to the associated {\it unscreened} spin current, which requires two half-quantum vortices with opposite spin winding to pair. We show that the stability of such a pair in bulk is enhanced when the ratio of spin superfluid density to superfluid density $ρ_{\rm sp}/ρ_{\rm s}$ is small. As a step towards stabilizing and observing these exotic excitations, we propose using various mesoscopic geometries. We find that certain mesoscopic geometries can selectively allow only single half-quantum vortices to enter the sample for small $ρ_{\rm sp}/ρ_{\rm s}$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2007

Explicit monodromy of Moore-Read wave functions on a torus

We construct the wave functions for the Moore-Read $ν= 5/2$ quantum Hall state on a torus in the presence of two quasiholes. These explicit wave functions allow us to compute the monodromy matrix that describes the effect of quasihole motion on the space of degenerate ground states. The result agrees with the recent discussion by Oshikawa {\it et al.} Our calculation provides a conformal field theory explanation of why certain transitions between ground states are forbidden. It is because taking a quasihole around a generator of the torus can change the fusion channel of the two quasiholes, and this requires a change of parity of the electron number in some of the ground states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2006

Proposal for reading out anyon qubits in non-abelian $ν= 12/5$ quantum Hall state

To detect non-abelian statistics in the $ν= 12/5$ quantum Hall state through interferometry, we apply an analysis similar to the ones proposed for the non-abelian $ν= 5/2$ quantum Hall state. The result is that the amplitude of the Aharonov-Bohm oscillation of this interference is dependent on the internal states of quasiholes, but, in contrast to the $ν= 5/2$ quantum Hall state, independent of the number of quasiholes. However, if the quasiholes are in a superposition state, it is necessary for the interferometer to have certain additional features to obtain the coefficients.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2005

Fusion rules and vortices in $p_x+ip_y$ superconductors

The "half-quantum" vortices ($σ$) and quasiparticles ($ψ$) in a two-dimensional $p_x+ip_y$ superconductor obey the Ising-like fusion rules $ψ\times ψ=1$, $σ\times ψ=σ$, and $σ\times σ= 1+ψ$. We explain how the physical fusion of vortex-antivortex pairs allows us to use these rules to read out the information encoded in the topologically protected space of degenerate ground states. We comment on the potential applicability of this fact to quantum computation. Modified 11/30/05 to reflect manuscript as accepted for publication. Includes corrected last section.

cond-mat.supr-con↗