2024/07/23 by Kawala, Alicja, Brzezicki, Wojciech · 1 citation
#FOS: Physical sciences #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2407.16421
SnTe materials are know to be a platform for realization of various strong and symmetry protected topological phases in one, two and three spatial dimensions. We study symmetry-protected topological states in [110] SnTe nanowires in the presence of various combinations of Zeeman field, s-wave superconductivity, inversion-symmetry-breaking field and the thickness of the wire. In the normal state we find a Weyl semimetal phase protected by a twofold screw axis symmetry and a topological insulating phase characterized by a ℤ invariant protected by a mirror symmetry. In the presence of superconductivity, we find inversion-symmetry-protected gapless phase which becomes fully gapped and topologically non-trivial by introducing an inversion-symmetry-breaking field. Consequently, we find topologically protected localized Majorana zero modes appear at the ends of the wire. We find that this Majorana phase is much easier to achieve in a [110] SnTe nanowire than in a [001] one.