Alternative paths to realize Majorana Fermions in Superconductor-Ferromagnet Heterostructures
OPEN ACCESS
Loading...
Author / Producer
Date
2019-04-18
Publication Type
Journal Article
ETH Bibliography
yes
Citations
Altmetric
OPEN ACCESS
Data
Rights / License
Abstract
A fundamental obstacle for achieving quantum computation is local decoherence. One way to circumvent this problem rests on the concepts of topological quantum computation using non-local information storage, for example on pairs of Majorana fermions (MFs). The arguably most promising way to generate MFs relies at present on spin-triplet p-wave states of superconductors (SC), which are not abundant in nature, unfortunately. Thus, proposals for their engineering in devices, usually via proximity effect from a conventional SC into materials with strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC), are intensively investigated nowadays. Here we take an alternative path, exploiting the different connections between fields based on a quartet coupling rule for fields introduced by one of us, we demonstrate that, for instance, coexisting Zeeman field with a charge current would provide the conditions to induce p-wave pairing in the presence of singlet superconductivity. This opens new avenues for the engineering of robust MFs in various, not necessarily (quasi-)one-dimensional, superconductor-ferromagnet heterostructures, including such motivated by recent pioneering experiments that report MFs, in particular, without the need of any exotic materials or special structures of intrinsic SOC.
Permanent link
Publication status
published
External links
Editor
Book title
Journal / series
Volume
9
Pages / Article No.
6259
Publisher
Nature
Event
Edition / version
Methods
Software
Geographic location
Date collected
Date created
Subject
Organisational unit
03571 - Sigrist, Manfred / Sigrist, Manfred