Doru Sticlet

Geometrical engineering of a two-band Chern insulator in two dimensions with arbitrary topological index

Two-dimensional 2-bands insulators breaking time reversal symmetry can present topological phases indexed by a topological invariant called the Chern number. Here we first propose an efficient procedure to determine this topological index. This tool allows in principle to conceive 2-bands Hamiltonians with arbitrary Chern numbers. We apply our methodology to gradually construct a quantum anomalous Hall insulator (Chern insulator) which can be tuned through five topological phases indexed by the Chern numbers {0,+/-1,+/-2}. On a cylindrical finite geometry, such insulator can therefore sustain up to two edge states which we characterize analytically. From this non-trivial Chern insulator and its time reversed copy, we build a quantum spin Hall insulator and show how the phases with a +/-2 Chern index yield trivial Z2 insulating phases.

Mutation of Andreev into Majorana bound states in long superconductor-normal and superconductor-normal-superconductor junctions

We study one-dimensional topological SN and SNS long junctions obtained by placing a topological insulating nanowire in the proximity of either one or two SC finite-size leads. Using the Majorana Polarization order parameter (MP) introduced in Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 096802 (2012), we find that the extended Andreev bound states (ABS) of the normal part of the wire acquire a finite MP: for a finite-size SN junction the ABS spectrum exhibits a zero-energy extended state which carries a full Majorana fermion, while the ABS of long SNS junctions with phase difference π transform into two zero-energy states carrying two Majorana fermions with the same MP. Given their extended character inside the whole normal link, and not only close to an interface, these Majorana-Andreev states can be directly detected in tunneling spectroscopy experiments.

Persistent currents in Dirac fermion rings

The persistent current in strictly one-dimensional Dirac systems is investigated within two different models, defined in the continuum and on a lattice, respectively. The object of the study is the effect of a single magnetic or nonmagnetic impurity in the two systems. In the continuum Dirac model, an analytical expression for the persistent current flowing along a ring with a single delta-like magnetic impurity is obtained after regularization of the unbounded negative energy states. The predicted decay of the persistent current agrees with the lattice simulations. The results are generalized to finite temperatures. To realize a single Dirac massless fermion, the lattice model breaks the time-reversal symmetry, and in contrast with the continuum model, a pointlike nonmagnetic impurity can lead to a decay in the persistent current.

From fractionally charged solitons to Majorana bound states in a one-dimensional interacting model

We consider one-dimensional topological insulators hosting fractionally charged midgap states in the presence and absence of induced superconductivity pairing. Under the protection of a discrete symmetry, relating positive and negative energy states, the solitonic midgap states remain pinned at zero energy when superconducting correlations are induced by proximity effect. When the superconducting pairing dominates the initial insulating gap, Majorana fermion phases develop for a class of insulators. As a concrete example, we study the Creutz model with induced s-wave superconductivity and repulsive Hubbard-type interactions. For a finite wire, without interactions, the solitonic modes originating from the nonsuperconducting model survive at zero energy, revealing a fourfold-degenerate ground state. However, interactions break the aforementioned discrete symmetry and completely remove this degeneracy, thereby producing a unique ground state which is characterized by a topological bulk invariant with respect to the product of fermion parity and bond inversion. In contrast, the Majorana edge modes are globally robust to interactions. Moreover, the parameter range for which a topological Majorana phase is stabilized expands when increasing the repulsive Hubbard interaction. The topological phase diagram of the interacting model is obtained using a combination of mean-field theory and density matrix renormalization group techniques.

Josephson effect in superconducting wires supporting multiple Majorana edge states

We study superconducting-normal-superconducting (SNS) Josephson junctions in one-dimensional topological superconductors which support more than one Majorana end mode. The variation of the energy spectrum with the superconducting phase is investigated by combining numerical diagonalizations of tight-binding models describing the SNS junction together with an analysis of appropriate low-energy effective Hamiltonians. We show that the four pi-periodicity characteristic of the fractional dc Josephson effect is preserved. Additionally, the ideal conductance of a NS junction with a topological supraconductor, hosting two Majorana modes at its ends, is doubled compared to the single Majorana case. Last, we illustrate how a nonzero superconducting phase gradient can potentially destroy the phases supporting multiple Majorana end states.

Distant-neighbor hopping in graphene and Haldane models

Large Chern number phases in a Haldane model become possible if there is a multiplication of Dirac points in the underlying graphene model. This is realized by considering long-distance hopping integrals. Through variation of these integrals, it is possible to arrive at supermerging band touchings, which up to N7 graphene are unique in parameter space. They result from the synchronized motion of all supplementary Dirac points into the regular

Effects of finite superconducting coherence lengths and of phase gradients in topological SN and SNS junctions and rings

\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}\mathbf{K}

Attractive critical point from weak antilocalization on fractals

points of graphene. The energy dispersion power law is usually larger than the topological charge associated with them. Moreover, adding distant-neighbor hoppings in the Haldane mass allows one to sweep large Chern number phases in the topological insulator.

Spin and Majorana polarization in topological superconducting wires.

We study the effect of a finite proximity superconducting (SC) coherence length in SN and SNS junctions consisting of a semiconducting topological insulating wire whose ends are connected to either one or two s-wave superconductors. We find that such systems behave exactly as SN and SNS junctions made from a single wire for which some regions are sitting on top of superconductors, the size of the topological SC region being determined by the SC coherence length. We also analyze the effect of a non-perfect transmission at the NS interface on the spatial extension of the Majorana fermions. Moreover, we study the effects of continuous phase gradients in both an open and closed (ring) SNS junction. We find that such phase gradients play an important role in the spatial localization of the Majorana fermions.

Robustness of Majorana bound states in the short-junction limit

We report an attractive critical point occurring in the Anderson localization scaling flow of symplectic models on fractals. The scaling theory of Anderson localization predicts that in disordered symplectic two-dimensional systems weak-antilocalization effects lead to a metal-insulator transition. This transition is characterized by a repulsive critical point above which the system becomes metallic. Fractals possess a noninteger scaling of conductance in the classical limit which can be continuously tuned by changing the fractal structure. We demonstrate that in disordered symplectic Hamiltonians defined on fractals with classical conductance scaling g∼L-, for βmax 0.15, the metallic phase is replaced by a critical phase with a scale-invariant conductance dependent on the fractal dimensionality. Our results show that disordered fractals allow an explicit construction and verification of the expansion.