Abstract
The chiral p-wave superconductor is the archetypal example of a state of matter that supports non-Abelian anyons, a highly desired type of exotic quasiparticle. With this, it is foundational for the distant goal of building a topological quantum computer. While some candidate materials for bulk chiral superconductors exist, they are subject of an ongoing debate about their actual paring state. Here we propose an alternative route to chiral superconductivity, consisting of the surface of an ordinary superconductor decorated with a two-dimensional lattice of magnetic impurities. We furthermore identify a promising experimental platform to realize this proposal.
Highlights
The chiral p-wave superconductor is the archetypal example of a state of matter that supports non-Abelian anyons, a highly desired type of exotic quasiparticle
As the phasespace for the existence of a topological superconductor is controlled by the Zeeman gap[24], these systems require a delicate balance of the parameters involved in order to create the topological superconductor
In the case of Fe adatoms on a Pb (111) surface, we show that strong magnetic order in general leads to an odd number of 2D Fermi surface segments
Summary
The chiral p-wave superconductor is the archetypal example of a state of matter that supports non-Abelian anyons, a highly desired type of exotic quasiparticle It is foundational for the distant goal of building a topological quantum computer. In one dimension (1D), based on the principle of combining spin-orbit coupling and externally applied magnetic fields, various groups have proposed engineering artificial realizations of p-wave superconductors[16,17,18,19,20,21,22]. An experimental realization of these proposals employing semiconductor nanowires with strong spin-orbit coupling[23] has reported Majorana fermion signatures. In this setup, the externally applied magnetic field has to be rather small (to avoid suppressing superconductivity). A similar scenario applies when the Fe orbitals are magnetic but itinerant[24]
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