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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Moiré dispersion of edge states in spin chains on superconductors

Cristina Mier1, Deung-Jang Choi1,2,3, and Nicolás Lorente1,2,*

  • 1Centro de Física de Materiales CFM/MPC (CSIC-UPV/EHU), 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
  • 2Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
  • 3Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, 48013 Bilbao, Spain

  • *nicolas.lorente@ehu.eus

Phys. Rev. Research 4, L032010 – Published 22 July, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L032010

Abstract

Our calculations of ferromagnetic spin chains on s-wave superconductors show that the energy oscillations of edge states with the chain's length are due to a moiré pattern emerging from the electronic interactions in the superconductor and the discreteness of the spin-chain lattice. By modifying the spin lattice, the moiré dispersion of edge states can be controlled. In particular, we can engineer nondispersive edge states that remain at fixed energy regardless of the size distribution of the spin chains. This is an important step in the study of edge states of spin chains that can be fabricated with a certain size dispersion.

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