Scanning Probe Study of Topological Insulator Josephson Junctions

ORAL

Abstract

We present progress towards testing for Majorana bound states in superconductor-topological insulator (S-TI) heterostructures. In a seminal paper in 2008, Fu and Kane predicted the existence of Majorana bound states in planar S-TI-S Josephson junctions with a phase difference of π. There has since been intensive experimental work to realize this system and look for signatures of Majorana bound states. Our approach is to spectroscopically probe superconducting Nb islands deposited on the topological insulator Bi2Se3, employing both bulk crystals and thin-film materials. The goal is to detect Majorana signatures in Josephson vortices on the surface with scanning probe methods. Scanning tunneling microscopy measurements and numerical simulations will be presented.

*This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, under Award DE-SC0017888.

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Presenters

  • Michael Gottschalk

    • Michigan State University
    • Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University

Authors

  • Michael Gottschalk

    • Michigan State University
    • Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University

  • Guang Yue

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

  • Eric Goodwin

    • Michigan State University
    • Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University

  • Gilbert Arias

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

  • Dale J Van Harlingen

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

  • Stuart Tessmer

    • Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University