| Literature DB >> 35787054 |
Jonathan Schirmer1, C-X Liu1,2, J K Jain1.
Abstract
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.Entities:
Keywords: Majorana modes; quantum Hall effect; skyrmions; topological superconductivity
Year: 2022 PMID: 35787054 PMCID: PMC9282419 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2202948119
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A ISSN: 0027-8424 Impact factor: 12.779