Topological properties of Josephson current between two s- and p-wave superconducting nanowires with Majorana fermions

Abstract

Josephson current between two one-dimensional nanowires with proximity induced either s-wave or p-wave pairing and separated by a narrow dielectric barrier is calculated in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit interaction, in-plane and normal Zeeman magnetic fields. We show that Andreev retro-tunneling is realized by means of two channels. The main contribution to the Josephson current in junction of s- or p-wave superconductors is shown to give Andreev scattering in a conventional particle-hole channel, when an electron-like quasiparticle reflects to a hole-like quasiparticle with opposite spin yielding a current which depends only on the order parameters’ phase differences φ and oscillates with fractional 4π period. Nevertheless Andreev bound state energy in second anomalous particle-hole channel, corresponding to the reflection of an incident electron-like quasiparticle to a hole-like quasiparticle with the same spin orientation, survives only in the presence of the in-plane magnetic field, and oscillates with 4π period not only with φ but also with orientational angle of the in-plane magnetic field θ resulting in a magneto-Josephson effect. In the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and normal-to-plane magnetic field h, a forbidden gap is shown to open in the dependence of Andreev bound state energies on the phases φ and θ at several values of SOC strength and magnetic field, where Josephson current seems to vanish. The magnetic fields destroy also the particle-hole symmetry of the mid-gap states around Fermi level.