Long-distance coherence of Majorana wires

Zheng Shi*, Piet W. Brouwer, Karsten Flensberg, Leonid Glazman, Felix von Oppen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Theoretically, a pair of Majorana bound states in a topological superconductor forms a single fermionic level even at large separations, implying that the parity information is stored nonlocally. The nonlocality leads to a long-distance coherence for electrons tunneling through a Coulomb-blockaded Majorana wire [L. Fu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 056402 (2010)], an effect that can be observed, e.g., in an interferometer. Here, we examine theoretically the coherent electron transfer, taking into account that tunneling implies the long-distance transfer of charge, which is carried by one-dimensional plasmons. We show that the charge dynamics does not affect the coherence of the electron tunneling process in a topological superconductor consisting of a semiconductor wire proximitized by a single bulk superconductor. The coherence may be strongly suppressed, however, if the topological superconductivity derives from a semiconductor wire proximitized by a granular superconductor.

Original languageEnglish
Article number241414
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume101
Issue number24
Number of pages5
ISSN2469-9950
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Jun 2020

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