Mapping the topological phase diagram of multiband semiconductors with supercurrents

We show that Josephson junctions made of multiband semiconductors with strong spin-orbit coupling carry a critical supercurrent Ic that contains information about the nontrivial topology of the system. In particular, we find that the emergence and annihilation of Majorana bound states in the junctio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2014-04, Vol.112 (13), p.137001-137001, Article 137001
Main Authors: San-Jose, Pablo, Prada, Elsa, Aguado, Ramón
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Emergence
Integrated circuits
Josephson junctions
Mapping
Phase diagrams
Semiconductors
Spin-orbit interactions
Topology
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Summary:We show that Josephson junctions made of multiband semiconductors with strong spin-orbit coupling carry a critical supercurrent Ic that contains information about the nontrivial topology of the system. In particular, we find that the emergence and annihilation of Majorana bound states in the junction is reflected in strong even-odd effects in Ic at small junction transparency. This effect allows for a mapping between Ic and the topological phase diagram of the junction, thus providing a dc measurement of its topology.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.137001