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Published March 29, 2019 | Published + Submitted + Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

Benefits of Weak Disorder in One-Dimensional Topological Superconductors

Abstract

Majorana bound states are zero-energy modes localized at the ends of a one-dimensional (1D) topological superconductor. Introducing disorder usually increases the Majorana localization length, until eventually inducing a topological phase transition to a trivial phase. In this work we show that in some cases weak disorder causes the Majorana localization length to decrease, making the topological phase more robust. Increasing the disorder further eventually leads to a change of trend and to a phase transition to a trivial phase. Interestingly the transition occurs at ξ_0 ≫ l, where l is the disorder mean-free path and ξ_0 is the localization length in the clean limit. Our results are particularly relevant to a 1D topological superconductors formed in planar Josephson junctions.

Additional Information

© 2019 American Physical Society. Received 13 September 2018; published 29 March 2019. We have benefited from the insightful comments of B. Halperin and Y. Oreg. We also thank M. Buchhold for useful discussions. We acknowledge support from the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics at Caltech (A. H.), the Israel Science Foundation (A. S.), the European Research Council under the European Community Seventh Framework Program (Grant No. FP7/2007-2013/MUNATOP) (A. S.), Microsoft Station Q (A. S.), and the DFG (CRC/Transregio 183, Grant No. EI 519/7-1) (A. S.).

Attached Files

Published - PhysRevLett.122.126801.pdf

Submitted - 1808.07886.pdf

Supplemental Material - Supplamental_Material_resubmitted_Mar_1_2019.pdf

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Created:
August 19, 2023
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