- Letter
Majorana modes in a helical altermagnet without net magnetism and spin-orbit coupling
Phys. Rev. B 113, L060408 – Published 18 February, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/gj6c-mcd2
Abstract
We propose a scheme to realize a topological superconductor and Majorana bound states (MBSs) in a one-dimensional metal nanowire on the surface of a helical altermagnet and in proximity to an -wave superconductor, removing the requirement of conventional spin-orbit coupling and net magnetism. Through gauge transformation, we demonstrate that the helical frame naturally induces spin-momentum locking while the altermagnetism breaks time-reversal symmetry. The topological superconducting phase is well tuned by the chemical potential, altermagnet strength, and helical frequency. Furthermore, our transport calculation results reveal quantized conductance signatures: a zero-bias peak at the nanowire ends and a tunneling conductance at the domain wall of nanowires with opposite chirality, detected via a metal lead and scanning tunneling microscopy, respectively. Our research offers different perspectives on finding MBSs.