Majoranas with a twist: Tunable Majorana zero modes in altermagnetic heterostructures
Phys. Rev. B 112, 214430 – Published 12 December, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/p79l-rty6
Abstract
Altermagnetism provides new routes to realize Majorana zero modes with vanishing net magnetization. We consider a recently proposed heterostructure consisting of a semiconducting wire on top of an altermagnet and with proximity-induced superconductivity. We demonstrate that rotating the wire serves as a tuning knob to induce the topological phase. For -, -, and -wave altermagnetic pairing, we derive angle-dependent topological gap-closing conditions. We derive symmetry constraints on angles where the induced altermagnetism must vanish, which we verify by explicit models. Our results imply that a bent or curved wire realizes a spatially-dependent topological invariant with Majorana zero modes pinned to positions where the topological invariant changes. This provides a new experimental set-up whereby a single wire can host both topologically trivial and nontrivial regimes without in situ tuning.