Majorana edge and end states in planar Josephson junctions

• Main Authors: Garrido, A. P, Orellana, P. A, Matos-Abiague, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 27-09-2024
• Subjects: Physics - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics; Physics - Superconductivity
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2409.19086

We theoretically investigate the localization properties of Majorana states
(MSs) in proximitized, planar Josephson Junctions (JJs) oriented along
different crystallographic orientations and in the presence of an in-plane
magnetic field and Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings. We show that
two types of MSs may emerge when the junction transits into the topological
superconducting state. In one case, referred to as end-like MSs, the Majorana
quasiparticles are mainly localized inside the normal region at the opposite
ends of the junction. In contrast, edge-like MSs extend along the opposite
edges of the system, perpendicular to the junction channel. We show how the MSs
can transit from end-like to edge-like and vice versa by tuning the magnetic
field strength and/or the superconducting phase difference across the junction.
In the case of phase-unbiased JJs the transition may occur as the ground state
phase difference self-adjusts its value when the Zeeman field is varied.