Chiral Majorana edge states in HgTe quantum wells

HgTe-based quantum wells (QWs) recently attracted a lot of attention for the realization of a two-dimensional topological insulator with protected helical edge states. Another class of topological systems are topological superconductors (TSCs) with Majorana edge states. In this paper, we show how pr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2013-02
Main Authors: Weithofer, Luzie, Recher, Patrik
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asymmetry
Broken symmetry
Quantum wells
Spin-orbit interactions
Superconductivity
Topological superconductors
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:HgTe-based quantum wells (QWs) recently attracted a lot of attention for the realization of a two-dimensional topological insulator with protected helical edge states. Another class of topological systems are topological superconductors (TSCs) with Majorana edge states. In this paper, we show how proximity induced s-wave superconductivity in the bulk of HgTe-QWs and in the presence of a Zeeman field can exhibit a TSC with chiral Majorana edge states. We calculate the topological invariants and the corresponding Majorana edge states explicitly within a four-band model accounting for inversion symmetry breaking terms due to Rashba spin-orbit coupling and bulk inversion asymmetry present in these QWs.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1302.5049