Coherent long-range magnetic bound states in a superconductor

Ménard, Gerbold; Guissart, Sébastien; Brun, Christophe; Pons, Stéphane; Stolyarov, V. S.; Debontridder, F.; Leclerc, Matthieu V.; Janod, Étienne; Cario, Laurent; Roditchev, Dimitri; Simon, Pascal; Cren, Tristan

doi:10.1038/nphys3508

Cited by 206 publications

(246 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In the spirit of engineering novel controllable states of matter, we show how to realize a complex hierarchy of topological phases with potential impurity superstructures adsorbed on chiral superconductors. Magnetic atoms on s-wave superconductors give rise to Yu-Shiba-Rusinov subgap states [7][8][9][10] which have been probed experimentally by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) [11][12][13][14]. Superstructures fabricated from magnetic atoms are currently under active experimental [15][16][17] and theoretical research [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33].…”

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Topological state engineering by potential impurities on chiral superconductors

et al. 2016

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In this work we consider the influence of potential impurities deposited on top of two-dimensional chiral superconductors. As discovered recently, magnetic impurity lattices on an s-wave superconductor may give rise to a rich topological phase diagram. We show that a similar mechanism takes place in chiral superconductors decorated by nonmagnetic impurities, thus avoiding the delicate issue of magnetic ordering of adatoms. We illustrate the method by presenting the theory of potential impurity lattices embedded on chiral p-wave superconductors. While a prerequisite for the topological state engineering is a chiral superconductor, the proposed procedure results in vistas of nontrivial descendant phases with different Chern numbers. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.94.060505 Introduction. Engineering novel quantum phases of matter with exotic properties is a rapidly growing trend in contemporary physics. The main goal is to employ simpler and wellunderstood ingredients and methods to create more complex structures with desirable properties. Recent promising efforts to realize [1][2][3] topological superconductivity in nanowire systems [4,5] demonstrate the power of the approach. While it seems unlikely that Nature directly provides us with Majorana quasiparticles that could be employed in quantum information applications [6], it is increasingly probable that those can be achieved in the laboratory. In the spirit of engineering novel controllable states of matter, we show how to realize a complex hierarchy of topological phases with potential impurity superstructures adsorbed on chiral superconductors. Magnetic atoms on s-wave superconductors give rise to Yu-Shiba-Rusinov subgap states [7][8][9][10] which have been probed experimentally by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) [11][12][13][14]. Superstructures fabricated from magnetic atoms are currently under active experimental [15][16][17] and theoretical research [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Intriguing properties of these systems include the possibility for various one-dimensional (1D) topological superconducting phases with Majorana bound states and rich two-dimensional (2D) topological phases [34][35][36][37]. A topologically nontrivial phase is known to arise in 1D ferromagnetic arrays when the underlying superconductor has a strong Rasha spin-orbit coupling or in arrays with helical magnetic textures. In 1D structures there are theoretical arguments why magnetic self-tuning could result in a nontrivial ground state [20][21][22]28,32,38], though in real systems there are a number of complications. In particular, in 2D structures the nature and tunability of magnetic textures is a delicate and largely unsolved question.Very recently it was proposed that potential impurities could be utilized to realize interesting topological states in 1D structures [39] and 2D toy models [40]. The procedure requires a non-s-wave superconductor host material with chiral or helical pairing components but circumvents the need for specific magnetic tex...

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Topological state engineering by potential impurities on chiral superconductors

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“…Besides early tunneling experiments on Kondo alloys producing conventional Shiba bands [23][24][25], the great majority of investigations of superconductor-QD systems are with magnetic impurities [2,7,19,26], nanowires [3,4], or nanotubes [27][28][29] coupled directly to a bulk superconductor. In these systems, the singlet Shiba excited state is created by breaking a Cooper pair which allows a quasiparticle to pair with the localized spin in the quantized system.…”

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Proximity-Induced Shiba States in a Molecular Junction

et al. 2017

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Superconductors containing magnetic impurities exhibit intriguing phenomena derived from the competition between Cooper pairing and Kondo screening. At the heart of this competition are the Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (Shiba) states which arise from the pair breaking effects a magnetic impurity has on a superconducting host. Hybrid superconductor-molecular junctions offer unique access to these states but the added complexity in fabricating such devices has kept their exploration to a minimum. Here, we report on the successful integration of a model spin 1=2 impurity, in the form of a neutral and stable all organic radical molecule, in proximity-induced superconducting break junctions. Our measurements reveal excitations which are characteristic of a spin-induced Shiba state due to the radical's unpaired spin strongly coupled to a superconductor. By virtue of a variable molecule-electrode coupling, we access both the singlet and doublet ground states of the hybrid system which give rise to the doublet and singlet Shiba excited states, respectively. Our results show that Shiba states are a robust feature of the interaction between a paramagnetic impurity and a proximity-induced superconductor where the excited state is mediated by correlated electron-hole (Andreev) pairs instead of Cooper pairs.

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“…Recent experiments [5][6][7] show the possibility of realization of this bound state, called Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) Andrzej [8,9]. A change in the coupling strength between the magnetic impurity and superconductor, can lead to the quantum phase transition (QPT) [10].…”

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Quantum Phase Transition Induced by Magnetic Impurity

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2017

J Supercond Nov Magn

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The Yu-Shiba-Rusinov bound states can arise around magnetic impurities in conventional superconductors. Competition between screened and unscreened states can lead to the quantum phase transition. We discuss basic properties of this quantum phase transition in the case of the triangular lattice with on-site pairing. We show that the quantum phase transistion results from the change of the ground state of the system.

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Coherent long-range magnetic bound states in a superconductor

Cited by 206 publications

References 29 publications

Topological state engineering by potential impurities on chiral superconductors

Topological state engineering by potential impurities on chiral superconductors

Proximity-Induced Shiba States in a Molecular Junction

Quantum Phase Transition Induced by Magnetic Impurity

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