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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Topological superconductivity enhanced by exceptional points

R. Arouca*, Jorge Cayao†, and Annica M. Black-Schaffer‡

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala SE-75120, Sweden

  • *rodrigo.arouca@physics.uu.se
  • †jorge.cayao@physics.uu.se
  • ‡annica.black-schaffer@physics.uu.se
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Phys. Rev. B 108, L060506 – Published 22 August, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.108.L060506

Abstract

Majorana zero modes (MZMs) emerge as edge states in topological superconductors and are promising for topological quantum computation, but their detection has so far been elusive. Here we show that non-Hermiticity can be used to obtain dramatically more robust MZMs. The enhanced properties appear as a result of an extreme instability of exceptional points to superconductivity, such that even a vanishingly small superconducting order parameter already opens a large energy gap, produces well-localized MZMs, and leads to strong superconducting pair correlations. Our work thus illustrates the large potential of enhancing electronic ordering, here in the form of topological superconductivity, using non-Hermitian exceptional points.

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Phys. Rev. B 108, L060506– Published 22 August, 2023
  • Received 1 July 2022
  • Revised 10 May 2023
  • Accepted 4 August 2023
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