Majorana fermions in superconducting nanowires without spin-orbit coupling

TY - JOUR

T1 - Majorana fermions in superconducting nanowires without spin-orbit coupling

AU - Kjærgaard, Morten

AU - Wölms, Konrad Udo Hannes

AU - Flensberg, Karsten

PY - 2012/1/13

Y1 - 2012/1/13

N2 - We study nanowires with proximity-induced s-wave superconducting pairing in an external magnetic field that rotates along the wire. Such a system is equivalent to nanowires with Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling, with strength proportional to the derivative of the field angle. For realistic parameters, we demonstrate that a set of permanent magnets can bring a nearby nanowire into the topologically nontrivial phase with localized Majorana modes at its ends. This occurs even for a magnetic field configuration with nodes along the wire and alternating sign of the effective Rashba coupling.

AB - We study nanowires with proximity-induced s-wave superconducting pairing in an external magnetic field that rotates along the wire. Such a system is equivalent to nanowires with Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling, with strength proportional to the derivative of the field angle. For realistic parameters, we demonstrate that a set of permanent magnets can bring a nearby nanowire into the topologically nontrivial phase with localized Majorana modes at its ends. This occurs even for a magnetic field configuration with nodes along the wire and alternating sign of the effective Rashba coupling.

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevB.85.020503

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevB.85.020503

M3 - Journal article

SN - 2469-9950

VL - 85

SP - 020503

JO - Physical Review B

JF - Physical Review B

IS - 2

ER -