Exploring parity transitions of Majorana bound states in S-TI-S lateral Josephson junctions

ORAL

Abstract

It is predicted that S-TI-S lateral Josephson junctions, fabricated by depositing electrodes of a conventional superconductor (S) on the surface of a topological insulator (TI), exhibit Majorana bound states (MBS) at locations in the junction where the phase difference is an odd-multiple of π, i.e. at the cores of the Josephson vortices. There is evidence for this from the lifting of odd nodes in the critical current diffraction patterns and the observation of supercurrent features at magnetic field where the MBS enter the junction. In this talk, we report progress on experiments designed to probe the parity states of MBS pairs and the transitions between them via measurements of the critical current distribution and supercurrent fluctuations. These experiments give information about parity lifetimes and open the door to understand the factors that limit them.

*NSF DMR-1610114 and DMR-1745304

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Presenters

  • Guang Yue

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    • Physics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    • Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Authors

  • Guang Yue

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    • Physics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    • Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Xiong Yao

    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick
    • Department of Physics & Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  • Deepti Jain

    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick
    • Department of Physics & Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  • Jisoo Moon

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick
    • Department of Physics & Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  • Seongshik Oh

    • Physics, Rutgers University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
    • Rutgers University, New Brunswick
    • Department of Physics & Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  • Alexey Bezryadin

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    • Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Dale J Van Harlingen

    • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    • Physics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    • Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign