Majorana fermions in T-shaped semiconductor nanostructures

Abstract

We investigate the Majorana fermions in a T-shaped semiconductor nanostructure with the Rashba spin–orbit coupling and a magnetic field in the proximity of an s-wave superconductor. It is found that the properties of the low-energy modes (including the Majorana and near-zero-energy modes) at the ends of this system are similar to those in the Majorana nanowire. However, very distinct from the nanowire, one Majorana mode emerges at the intersection of the T-shaped structure when the number of the low-energy modes at each end N is odd, whereas neither Majorana nor near-zero-energy mode appears at the intersection for even N. We also discover that the intersection Majorana mode plays an important role in the transport through the above T-shaped nanostructure with each end connected with a normal lead. Due to the presence of the intersection mode, the deviation of the zero-bias conductance from the ideal value in the long-arm limit Ne2/h is more pronounced in the regime of odd N compared to the one of even N. Furthermore, when the magnetic field increases from the regime of odd N to the one of even N + 1, the deviation from the ideal value tends to decrease. This behavior is also very distinct from that in a nanowire, where the deviation always tends to increase with the increase of magnetic field.