Skyrmion control of Majorana states in planar Josephson junctions

Narayan Mohanta, Satoshi Okamoto, Elbio Dagotto

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Planar Josephson junctions provide a versatile platform, alternative to the nanowire-based geometry, for the generation of the Majorana bound states, due to the additional phase tunability of the topological superconductivity. The proximity induction of chiral magnetism and superconductivity in a two-dimensional electron gas showed remarkable promise to manipulate topological superconductivity. Here, we consider a Josephson junction involving a skyrmion crystal and show that the chiral magnetism of the skyrmions can create and control the Majorana bound states without the requirement of an intrinsic Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Interestingly, the Majorana bound states in our geometry are realized robustly at zero phase difference at the junction. The skyrmion radius, being externally tunable by a magnetic field or a magnetic anisotropy, brings a unique control feature for the Majorana bound states.

Original languageEnglish
Article number163
JournalCommunications Physics
Volume4
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Materials Sciences, and Engineering Division.

FundersFunder number
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Basic Energy Sciences

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