Majorana Fermions and Disclinations in Topological Crystalline Superconductors

2012/08/30 by Jeffrey C. Y. Teo, Taylor L. Hughes · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.str-el #cond-mat.supr-con

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.111.047006

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 047006 (2013) · 5 pages, 4 figures

arxiv created 2012/08/30 · arxiv updated 2013/12/20

Abstract

We prove a topological criterion for the existence of zero-energy Majorana bound-state on a disclination, a rotation symmetry breaking point defect, in 4-fold symmetric topological crystalline superconductors (TCS). We first establish a complete topological classification of TCS using the Chern invariant and three integral rotation invariants. By analytically and numerically studying disclinations, we algebraically deduce a Z₂-index that identifies the parity of the number of Majorana zero-modes at a disclination. Surprisingly, we also find weakly-protected Majorana fermions bound at the corners of superconductors with trivial Chern and weak invariants.

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