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A one dimensional spinless p-wave superconductor may be in a topological nontrivial state, in which it has a zero energy Majorana bound state at each end. Although no known materials are spinless p-wave superconductors, such a system can be realized in principle in spin-orbit coupled nanowires with proximity-induced pairing from a nearby s-wave superconductor. After introducing the topological phase, I will discuss how non-idealities, such as potential disorder and deviations from a strict one-dimensional limit, affect the topological phase and its signatures in a current-voltage measurement.

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Prof. Dr. Piet Brouwer, FU Berlin
Seminarraum Theoretische Physik
Contact: Alexander Altland