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.
Highlights
The most striking and direct experimental evidence of Majorana fermions (MFs) was, reported by scanning tunneling microscopy at the edges of ferromagnetic (FM) Fe wires placed on the [110] surface of SC Pb25
Exploring the different connections between the relevant fields based on the quartet coupling rule for fields introduced by one of us[28], we show that appropriate p-wave SC fields and robust MFs may be induced from singlet SC states in the presence of FM and supercurrents, without the need to assume any intrinsic Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC)
We propose a versatile trilayer SC/FM/SC device structure that can produce MFs through the same quartets mechanism, illustrating how our approach opens new avenues for the controllable quantum engineering of robust MFs in SC/FM heterostructures that may involve trivial materials and may not even need to be quasi-one-dimensional thanks to the directionality of currents
Summary
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, 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. 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. Quartet A charge current Zeeman field electron-hole asymmetry spin-orbit coupling
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