Detecting Majorana bound states

TL;DR

This paper proposes interferometric techniques to detect Majorana bound states in topological insulators, using conductance oscillations and persistent currents as indicators of their presence.

Contribution

It introduces novel interferometric methods for identifying Majorana bound states and demonstrates their effectiveness through theoretical analysis.

Findings

Conductance oscillations vary with magnetic flux and electric voltage in the presence of Majorana states.

Coupled Majorana states can generate persistent currents without external magnetic fields.

Distinct behaviors observed with and without Majorana states confirm detection methods.

Abstract

We propose a set of interferometric methods on how to detect Majorana bound states induced by a topological insulator. The existence of these states can be easily determined by the conductance oscillations as function of magnetic flux and/or electric voltage. We study the system in the presence and absence of Majorana bound states and observe strikingly different behaviors. Importantly, we show that the presence of coupled Majorana bound states can induce a persistent current in absence of any external magnetic field.