Majorana zero modes in superconductor-magnet heterostructures with -wave order
Phys. Rev. B 114, 065117 – Published 13 July, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/19b2-2rxr
Abstract
Magnetic skyrmions in proximity to superconductors offer a route to engineering topological superconductivity due to the synthetic spin-orbit coupling engendered by the spin twist of the skyrmion texture. Previous theoretical works show that this leads to Majorana zero modes (MZMs) in skyrmion-vortex pairs for -wave superconductors. Here we investigate this mechanism in fully gapped and superconductors. We find the surprising result that while stable MZMs are found in large parts of the phase diagram, strongly enhanced -wave pairing or stronger skyrmion-induced spin twisting can in fact destroy topology unlike in -wave superconductors. This effect can be understood from the nontrivial spatial structure of the -wave pairing, and mixing of odd and even angular-momentum pairing channels in a rotated frame which untwists the skyrmion texture. Our results inform the feasibility of realizing MZMs with unconventional superconductors in such heterostructures.