中国物理B ›› 2015, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (8): 80401-080401.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/24/8/080401

• GENERAL • 上一篇    下一篇

The stability of Majorana fermion in correlated quantum wire

张德平, 田光善   

  1. School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  • 收稿日期:2014-09-17 修回日期:2015-02-11 出版日期:2015-08-05 发布日期:2015-08-05
  • 基金资助:

    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11374017).

The stability of Majorana fermion in correlated quantum wire

Zhang De-Ping (张德平), Tian Guang-Shan (田光善)   

  1. School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  • Received:2014-09-17 Revised:2015-02-11 Online:2015-08-05 Published:2015-08-05
  • Contact: Tian Guang-Shan E-mail:tiangs@pku.edu.cn
  • Supported by:

    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11374017).

摘要:

In this paper, we investigate the effect of the Coulomb interaction between electrons on the stability of Majorana fermion in a heterostructure of s-wave superconductor and quantum wire. In particular, by using the bosonization method and the renormalization group technique, we show that interplay between the so-called umklapp electron–electron scattering process and the superconducting proximity effect plays an extremely important role in determining the phase diagram of the system. We find that, at half-filling, the strong umklapp scattering process suppresses not only the superconducting pairing interaction and hence, destabilizes Majorana fermion in the quantum wire, but aslo results in a Mott insulating state. However, if the proximity effect is sufficiently strong, the topological superconducting phase can still survive and support Majorana fermion in the heterostructure. Furthermore, the existence of a critical Luttinger liquid phase is also found in a narrow region of parameters.

关键词: Majorana fermion, proximity effects, p-wave pairing heterostructure

Abstract:

In this paper, we investigate the effect of the Coulomb interaction between electrons on the stability of Majorana fermion in a heterostructure of s-wave superconductor and quantum wire. In particular, by using the bosonization method and the renormalization group technique, we show that interplay between the so-called umklapp electron–electron scattering process and the superconducting proximity effect plays an extremely important role in determining the phase diagram of the system. We find that, at half-filling, the strong umklapp scattering process suppresses not only the superconducting pairing interaction and hence, destabilizes Majorana fermion in the quantum wire, but aslo results in a Mott insulating state. However, if the proximity effect is sufficiently strong, the topological superconducting phase can still survive and support Majorana fermion in the heterostructure. Furthermore, the existence of a critical Luttinger liquid phase is also found in a narrow region of parameters.

Key words: Majorana fermion, proximity effects, p-wave pairing heterostructure

中图分类号:  (Higher-dimensional gravity and other theories of gravity)

  • 04.50.-h
74.45.+c (Proximity effects; Andreev reflection; SN and SNS junctions) 74.20.Rp (Pairing symmetries (other than s-wave)) 79.60.Jv (Interfaces; heterostructures; nanostructures)