Manipulating Majorana Fermions in Quantum Nanowires with Broken Inversion Symmetry

ORAL

Abstract

We study a Majorana-carrying quantum wire, driven into a trivial phase by breaking the spatial inversion symmetry with a tilted external magnetic field. Interestingly, we predict that a supercurrent applied in the proximate superconductor is able to restore the topological phase and therefore the Majorana end-states. Using Abelian bosonization, we further confirm this result in the presence of electron-electron interactions and show an insightful connection of this phenomenon to the physics of a one-dimensional doped Mott-insulator. The present results have important applications in e.g., realizing a supercurrent assisted braiding of Majorana fermions, which proves highly useful in topological quantum computation with realistic Majorana networks.

Authors

  • Alejandro M. Lobos

    JQI and CMTC, Department of Physics, University of Maryland

  • Xiong-Jun Liu

    JQI and CMTC, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, and Institute of Advanced Study, Hong Kong University of Science \& Technology, Hong Kong, University of Maryland, College Park, Institute of Advanced Study and Department of Physics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong