Abstract
Recently it was discovered that superconductivity in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) is strongly affected by an out-of-plane spin–orbit coupling. In addition, new techniques of fabricating 2d ferromagnets on van der Waals materials are rapidly emerging. Combining these breakthroughs, we propose a realization of nodal topological superconductivity in TMDs by fabricating nanostructured ferromagnets with an in-plane magnetization on the top surface. The proposed procedure does not require application of external magnetic fields and applies to monolayer and multilayer (bulk) systems. The signatures of the topological phase include Majorana flat bandsthat can be directly observed by scanning tunneling microscopy techniques. We concentrate on NbSe2 and argue that the proposed structures demonstrating the nodal topological phase can be realized within existing technology.
Highlights
According to the modern approach to condensed matter physics, novel states of matter can be realized in designer systems by combining simpler building blocks
It was discovered that superconductivity in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) is strongly affected by an out-of-plane spin-orbit coupling (SOC)
We propose a realization of nodal topological superconductivity in TMDs by fabricating nanostructured ferromagnets with an in-plane magnetization on the top surface
Summary
According to the modern approach to condensed matter physics, novel states of matter can be realized in designer systems by combining simpler building blocks. 27 and 28 it was proposed that an Ising spin-orbit coupled monolayer TMD (e.g. NbSe2) in the presence of an in-plane magnetic field could realize a topological superconducting. In our work we consider how the state can be observed in magnetic structures fabricated on top of an Ising superconductor, treating NbSe2 as a particular realization. We show how magnetic nanostructures on 2H-NbSe2 give rise to the nodal topological phase signalled by the appearance of flat Majorana edge bands. The further advantages of the proposed setup include the possibility of fabricating well-defined nanostructures of topological elements This comes with the benefit that the Majorana flat bands can be directly observed by STM by studying the Local Density of States (LDOS) on magnetic islands. We show how the essential normal state features of NbSe2 as well as the nodal topological superconducting state emerge from this model
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