Delocalisation of Majorana quasiparticles in plaquette-nanowire hybrid system

Sci Rep. 2019 Sep 10;9(1):12933. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-49227-5.

Abstract

Interplay between superconductivity, spin-orbit coupling and magnetic field can lead to realisation of the topologically non-trivial states which in finite one dimensional nanowires are manifested by emergence of a pair of zero-energy Majorana bound states. On the other hand, in two dimensional systems the chiral edge states can appear. We investigate novel properties of the bound states in a system of mixed dimensionality, composed of one-dimensional nanowire connected with two-dimensional plaquette. We study this system, assuming either its part or the entire structure to be in topologically non-trivial superconducting state. Our results show delocalisation of the Majorana modes, upon leaking from the nanowire to the plaquette with some tendency towards its corners.