Majorana Band Research Articles

Phase diagram of superconductivity in the integer quantum Hall regime

An interplay between pairing and topological orders has been predicted to give rise to superconducting states supporting exotic emergent particles, such as Majorana particles obeying non-Abelian braid statistics. We consider a system of spin polarized electrons on a Hofstadter lattice with nearest-neighbor attractive interaction and solve the mean-field Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations in a self-consistent fashion, leading to gauge-invariant observables and a rich phase diagram as a function of the chemical potential, the magnetic field, and the interaction. As the strength of the attractive interaction is increased, the system first makes a transition from a quantum Hall phase to a skyrmion lattice phase that is fully gapped in the bulk but has topological chiral edge current, characterizing a topologically nontrivial state. This is followed by a vortex phase in which the vortices carrying Majorana modes form a lattice; the spectrum contains a low-energy Majorana band arising from the coupling between neighboring vortex-core Majorana modes but does not have chiral edge currents. For some parameters, a dimer vortex lattice occurs with no Majorana band. The experimental feasibility and the observable consequences of skyrmions as well as Majorana modes are indicated.

Asymmetric modulation of Majorana excitation spectra and nonreciprocal thermal transport in the Kitaev spin liquid under a staggered magnetic field

We present the theoretical results for the Majorana band structure and thermal transport properties in the Kitaev honeycomb model under a staggered magnetic field in addition to a uniform one. The Majorana band structure is asymmetrically modulated in momentum space, and the valley degree of freedom is activated and controlled by the magnitudes and directions of the uniform and staggered magnetic fields; as a result, the Majorana excitation is either gapped or gapless, the latter of which in general has Majorana Fermi surfaces, in contrast to the point nodes in the absence of the fields. We show that the asymmetric deformation of the Majorana band induces a nonlinear (nonreciprocal) thermal transport, in addition to the linear one. The field dependence of the linear thermal current is correlated with the magnitude of the Majorana gap, while that of the nonlinear thermal current is associated with the asymmetry of the Majorana excitation spectra. We show the estimates of the thermal currents and discuss that the linear response is experimentally measurable, whereas future improvement is required for the observation of the nonlinear one. We also discuss how the thermal currents are modulated by other additional effects of the magnetic field and contributions from conventional magnons, latter of which are expected in heterostructures to realize an internal staggered magnetic field.

Thermodynamics of three-dimensional Kitaev quantum spin liquids via tensor networks

We study the 3D Kitaev and Kitaev-Heisenberg models, respectively, on the hyperhoneycomb and hyperoctagon lattices, both at zero and finite-temperature, in the thermodynamic limit. Our analysis relies on advanced tensor network (TN) simulations based on graph projected entangled-pair states (gPEPS). We map out the TN phase diagrams of the models and characterize their underlying gapped and gapless phases both at zero and finite temperature. In particular, we demonstrate how cooling down the hyperhoneycomb system from high temperature leads to fractionalization of spins to Majorana fermions and gauge fields that occurs in two separate temperature regimes, leaving their fingerprint on specific heat as a double-peak feature as well as on other quantities such as the thermal entropy, spin-spin correlations, and bond entropy. Using the Majorana representation of the Kitaev model, we further show that the low-temperature thermal transition to the Kitaev quantum spin liquid (QSL) phase is associated with the nontrivial Majorana band topology and the presence of Weyl nodes, which manifests itself via nonvanishing Chern number and finite thermal Hall conductivity. Beyond the pure Kitaev limit, we study the 3D Kitaev-Heisenberg (KH) model on the hyperoctagon lattice and extract the full phase diagram for different Heisenberg couplings. We further explore the thermodynamic properties of the magnetically-ordered regions in the KH model and show that, in contrast to the QSL phase, here the thermal phase transition follows the standard Landau symmetry-breaking theory.

Topological phase transition to Abelian anyon phases due to off-diagonal exchange interaction in the Kitaev spin liquid state

We investigate how the Kitaev spin liquid state described by Majorana fermions coupled with $Z_2$ gauge fields is affected by non-Kitaev interactions which exist in real candidate materials of the Kitaev magnet. It is found that the off-diagonal exchange interaction referred to as the $\Gamma'$ term dramatically changes the Majorana band structure in the case of the antiferromagnetic Kitaev interaction, and gives rise to a topological phase transition from a non-Abelian topological phase with the Chern number equal to $\pm 1$ to an Abelian phase with the Chern number equal to $\pm 2$, in which the $Z_{2}$ vortices behave as Abelian anyons. On the other hand, other non-Kitaev interactions such as the Heisenberg interaction and the $\Gamma$ term, only affect the bandwidth of the Majorana band as long as the spin liquid state is not destabilized.

Thermodynamic classification of three-dimensional Kitaev spin liquids

In the field of frustrated magnetism, Kitaev models provide a unique framework to study the phenomena of spin fractionalization and emergent lattice gauge theories in two and three spatial dimensions. Their ground states are quantum spin liquids, which can typically be described in terms of a Majorana band structure and an ordering of the underlying $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge structure. Here we provide a comprehensive classification of the "gauge physics" of a family of elementary three-dimensional Kitaev models, discussing how their thermodynamics and ground state order depends on the underlying lattice geometry. Using large-scale, sign-free quantum Monte Carlo simulations we show that the ground-state gauge order can generally be understood in terms of the length of elementary plaquettes -- a result which extends the applicability of Lieb's theorem to lattice geometries beyond its original scope. At finite temperatures, the proliferation of (gapped) vison excitations destroys the gauge order at a critical temperature scale, which we show to correlate with the size of vison gap for the family of three-dimensional Kitaev models. We also discuss two notable exceptions where the lattice structure gives rise to "gauge frustration" or intertwines the gauge ordering with time-reversal symmetry breaking. In a more general context, the thermodynamic gauge transitions in such 3D Kitaev models are one of the most natural settings for phase transitions beyond the standard Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson paradigm.

Field stability of Majorana spin liquids in antiferromagnetic Kitaev models

Magnetic fields can give rise to a plethora of phenomena in Kitaev spin systems, such as the formation of non-trivial spin liquids in two and three spatial dimensions. For the original honeycomb Kitaev model, it has recently been observed that the sign of the bond-directional exchange is of crucial relevance for the field-induced physics, with antiferromagnetic couplings giving rise to an intermediate spin liquid regime between the low-field gapped Kitaev spin liquid and the high-field polarized state, which is not present in the ferromagnetically coupled model. Here, by employing a Majorana mean-field approach for a magnetic field pointing along the [001] direction, we present a systematic study of field-induced spin liquid phases for a variety of two and three-dimensional lattice geometries. We find that antiferromagnetic couplings generically lead to (i) spin liquid phases that are considerably more stable in field than those for ferromagnetic couplings, and (ii) an intermediate spin liquid phase which arises from a change in the topology of the Majorana band structure. Close inspection of the mean-field parameters reveal that the intermediate phase occurs due to a field-driven sign change in an 'effective' $z$-bond energy parameter. Our results clearly demonstrate the richness of the Majorana physics of the antiferromagnetic Kitaev models, in comparison to their ferromagnetic counterparts.

Topological superconductivity with deformable magnetic skyrmions

Magnetic skyrmions are nanoscale spin configurations that are efficiently created and manipulated. They hold great promises for next-generation spintronics applications. In parallel, the interplay of magnetism, superconductivity and spin-orbit coupling has proved to be a versatile platform for engineering topological superconductivity predicted to host non-abelian excitations, Majorana zero modes. We show that topological superconductivity can be induced by proximitizing skyrmions and conventional superconductors, without need for additional ingredients. Apart from a previously reported Majorana zero mode in the core of the skyrmion, we find a more universal chiral band of Majorana modes on the edge of the skyrmion. We show that the chiral Majorana band is effectively flat in the physically relevant parameter regime, leading to interesting robustness and scaling properties. In particular, the number of Majorana modes in the (nearly-)flat band scales with the perimeter length of the system, while being robust to local disorder.

Building fracton phases by Majorana manipulation

Fracton topological phases host fractionalized topological quasiparticles with restricted mobility, with promising applications to fault-tolerant quantum computation. While a variety of exactly solvable fracton models have been proposed, there is a need for platforms to realize them experimentally. We show that a rich set of fracton phases emerges in interacting Majorana band models whose building blocks are within experimental reach. Specifically, our Majorana constructions overcome a principal obstacle, namely the implementation of the complicated spin cluster interactions underlying fracton stabilizer codes. The basic building blocks of the proposed constructions include Coulomb blockaded Majorana islands and weak inter-island Majorana hybridizations. This setting produces a wide variety of fracton states and promises numerous opportunities for probing and controlling fracton phases experimentally. Our approach also reveals the relation between fracton phases and Majorana fermion codes and further generates a hierarchy of fracton spin liquids.

Singlet-quintet mixing in spin-orbit coupled superconductors with j=32 fermions

In non-centrosymmetric superconductors, spin-orbit coupling can induce an unconventional superconducting state with a mixture of s-wave spin-singlet and p-wave spin-triplet channels, which leads to a variety of exotic phenomena, including anisotropic upper critical field, magnetoelectric effect, topological superconductivity, et al. It is commonly thought that inversion symmetry breaking is substantial for pairing-mixed superconducting states. In this work, we theoretically propose that a new type of pairing-mixed state, namely the mixture of s-wave spin-singlet and d-wave spin-quintet channels, can be induced by spin-orbit coupling even in the presence of inversion symmetry when electrons effectively carry "spin-3/2" in superconductors. As a physical consequence of the singlet-quintet pairing mixing, topological nodal-line superconductivity is found in such system and gives rise to flat surface Majorana bands. Our work provides a possible explanation of unconventional superconducting behaviors observed in superconducting half-Heusler compounds.

Successive Majorana topological transitions driven by a magnetic field in the Kitaev model

We study quantum phase transitions in the honeycomb Kitaev model under a magnetic field, focusing on the topological nature of Majorana fermion excitations. We find a gapless phase between the low-field gapless quantum spin liquid and the high-field gapped forced-ferromagnetic state for the antiferromagnetic Kitaev model in the [001] field by using the Majorana mean-field theory, in conjunction with the exact diagonalization and the spin-wave theory supporting the validity of this approach. The transition between the two gapless phases is driven by a topological change of the Majorana spectrum --- line node formation interconnecting two Majorana cones. The peculiar change of the Majorana band topology is rationalized by a sign change of the effective Kitaev coupling by the magnetic field, which does not occur in the ferromagnetic Kitaev case. Upon tilting the magnetic field away from [001], the two gapless phases become gapped and topologically nontrivial, characterized by nonzero Chern numbers with different signs. The sign change of the Chern number leads to a reversal of the thermal edge current in the half-quantized thermal Hall effect.

Bulk boundary correspondence and the existence of Majorana bound states on the edges of 2D topological superconductors

The bulk-boundary correspondence establishes a connection between the bulk topological index of an insulator or superconductor, and the number of topologically protected edge bands or states. For topological superconductors in two dimensions the first Chern number is related to the number of protected bands within the bulk energy gap, and is therefore assumed to give the number of Majorana band states in the system. Here we show that this is not necessarily the case. As an example we consider a hexagonal-lattice topological superconductor based on a model of graphene with Rashba spin orbit coupling, proximity induced s-wave superconductivity, and a Zeeman magnetic field. We explore the full Chern number phase diagram of this model, extending what is already known about its parity. We then demonstrate that despite the high Chern numbers that can be seen in some phases these do not strictly always contain Majorana bound states.

Bound states of fractionalized excitations in a modulated Kitaev spin liquid

Fractionalization is a hallmark of spin-liquid behavior; it typically leads to response functions consisting of continua instead of sharp modes. However, microscopic processes can enable the formation of short-distance bound states of fractionalized excitations, despite asymptotic deconfinement. Here we study such bound-state formation for the $Z_2$ spin liquid realized in Kitaev's honeycomb compass model, supplemented by a kekule distortion of the lattice. Bound states between flux pairs and Majorana fermions form in the Majorana band gaps. We calculate the dynamic spin susceptibility and show that bound states lead to sharp modes in the magnetic response of the spin liquid, with the momentum dependence of the corresponding spectral weight encoding internal symmetry of the bound state. As a byproduct, we also show that isolated fluxes may produce Majorana bound states at exactly zero energy. Generalizations and implications of the results are discussed.

Josephson current signatures of Majorana flat bands on the surface of time-reversal-invariant Weyl and Dirac semimetals

A linear Josephson junction mediated by the surface states of a time-reversal-invariant Weyl or Dirac semimetal localizes Majorana flat bands protected by the time-reversal symmetry. We show that as a result, the Josephson current exhibits a discontinuous jump at $\pi$ phase difference which can serve as an experimental signature of the Majorana bands. The magnitude of the jump scales proportionally to the junction width and the momentum space distance between the Weyl nodes. It also exhibits a characteristic dependence on the junction orientation. We demonstrate that the jump is robust against the effects of non-zero temperature and weak non-magnetic disorder.

Generic Weyl phase in the vortex state of quasi-two-dimensional chiral superconductors

We study the collective behavior of Majorana modes in the vortex state of chiral $p$-wave superconductors. Away from the isolated vortex limit, the zero-energy Majorana states communicate with each other on a vortex lattice, and form a coherent band structure with non-trivial topological character. We revealed that the topological nature of Majorana bands changes sensitively via quantum phase transitions in the two-dimensional (2D) systems, as sweeping magnetic field or Fermi energy. Through the dimensional reduction, we showed the existence of generic superconducting Weyl phase in a low magnetic field region of quasi-2D-chiral superconductors.

Superconducting proximity effect and Majorana flat bands at the surface of a Weyl semimetal

We study the proximity effect between an s-wave superconductor (SC) and the surface states of a Weyl semimetal. An interesting two-dimensional SC forms in such an interface with properties resembling in certain aspects the Fu-Kane superconductor with some notable differences. In a Weyl semimetal with unbroken time reversal symmetry the interface SC supports completely flat Majorana bands in a linear Josephson junction with a {\pi} phase difference. We discuss stability of these bands against disorder and propose ways in which they can be observed experimentally.

Majorana bands, Berry curvature, and thermal Hall conductivity in the vortex state of a chiralp-wave superconductor

Majorana quasiparticles localized in vortex cores of a chiral p-wave superconductor hybridize with one another to form bands in a vortex lattice. We begin by solving a fully microscopic theory describing all quasiparticle bands in a chiral p-wave superconductor in magnetic field, then use this solution to build localized Wannier wavefunctions corresponding to Majorana quasiparticles. A low-energy tight-binding theory describing the intervortex hopping of these is then derived, and its topological properties---which depend crucially on the signs of the imaginary intervortex hopping parameters---are studied. We show that the energy gap between the Majorana bands may be either topologically trivial or nontrivial, depending on whether the Chern number contributions from the Majorana bands and those from the background superconducting condensate add constructively or destructively. This topology directly affects the temperature-dependent thermal Hall conductivity, which we also calculate.

Electronic structure of topological superconductors in the presence of a vortex lattice

Certain types of topological superconductors and superfluids are known to host protected Majorana zero modes in cores of Abrikosov vortices. When such vortices are arranged in a dense periodic lattice one expects zero modes from neighboring vortices to hybridize and form dispersing bands. Understanding the structure of these bands is essential for the schemes that aim to employ the zero modes in quantum computation applications and in studies of their strongly interacting phases. We investigate here the band formation phenomenon in two concrete models, describing a two dimensional p + ip superconductor and a superconducting surface of a three-dimensional strong topological insulator (Fu-Kane model), using a combination of analytical and numerical techniques. We find that the physics of the Majorana bands is well described by tight binding models of Majorana fermions coupled to a static Z2 gauge field with a non-trivial gauge flux through each plaquette, in accord with expectations based on very general arguments. In the case of the Fu-Kane model we also find that, irrespective of the lattice geometry, the Majorana band becomes completely flat at the so called neutrality point (chemical potential coincident with the Dirac point) where the model exhibits an extra chiral symmetry. In this limit the low energy physics will be dominated by four-fermion interaction terms which are permitted by symmetries and may arise from the Coulomb interaction between the constituent electron degrees of freedom.

Flat Majorana bands in two-dimensional lattices with inhomogeneous magnetic fields: Topology and stability

In this paper we show that for a range of configurations of inhomogeneous magnetic fields it is possible to create flat bands of Majorana states localized on the edges of 2-d lattices. Majorana bound states have been predicted to exist in both one dimensional and two dimensional systems with Rashba spin-orbit coupling, magnetic fields, and placed in proximity to a superconductor. For the proposed systems we present the bulk topological phase diagrams, and we study the conditions for weak topology which predicts the formation of bands of Majorana states. The Majorana bands are demonstrated to be relatively stable with respect to a variety of different perturbations on both square and hexagonal lattices.

Majorana Fermions in Vortex Lattices

We consider Majorana fermions tunneling among an array of vortices in a 2D chiral p-wave superconductor or equivalent material. The amplitude for Majorana fermions to tunnel between a pair of vortices is found to necessarily depend on the background superconducting phase profile; it is found to be proportional to the sine of half the difference between the phases at the two vortices. Using this result we study tight-binding models of Majorana fermions in vortices arranged in triangular or square lattices. In both cases we find that the aforementioned phase-tunneling relationship leads to the creation of superlattices where the Majorana fermions form macroscopically degenerate localizable flat bands at zero energy, in addition to other dispersive bands. This finding suggests that tunneling processes in these vortex arrays do not change the energies of a finite fraction of Majorana fermions, contrary to previous expectation. The presence of flat Majorana bands, and hence less-than-expected decoherence in these vortex arrays, bodes well for the prospects of topological quantum computation with large numbers of Majorana states.