Topological aspects of π phase winding junctions in superconducting wires
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
We theoretically investigate Josephson junctions with a phase shift of π in various proximity induced one-dimensional superconductor models. One of the salient experimental signatures of topological superconductors, namely the fractionalized periodic Josephson effect, is closely related to the occurrence of a characteristic zero energy bound state in such junctions. We make a detailed analysis of a more general type of π-junctions coined 'phase winding junctions' where the phase of the order parameter rotates by an angle π while its absolute value is kept finite. Such junctions have different properties, also from a topological viewpoint, and there are no protected zero energy modes. We compare the phenomenology of such junctions in topological (p-wave) and trivial (s-wave) superconducting wires, and briefly discuss possible experimental probes. Furthermore, we propose a topological field theory that gives a minimal description of a wire with defects corresponding to π-junctions. This effective theory is a one-dimensional version of similar theories describing Majorana bound states in half-vortices of two-dimensional topological superconductors.
Details
Original language | English |
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Article number | 405701 |
Journal | Journal of Physics Condensed Matter |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 40 |
Publication status | Published - 24 Sept 2015 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- Josephson junction, Kitaev wire model, topological superconductivity