Majorana Fermions in Proximity-coupled Topological Insulator Nanowires

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that topological insulator nanowires, when coupled with a superconductor and exposed to a magnetic field, can host Majorana fermions at their ends, providing a promising platform for studying these particles.

Contribution

It introduces a practical setup for realizing Majorana fermions in solid-state systems using topological insulator nanowires with proximity-induced superconductivity.

Findings

Majorana fermions localized at nanowire ends

Robust topological superconducting phase over wide conditions

Accessible physical realization of Majorana particles

Abstract

A topological insulator nanowire, proximity-coupled to an ordinary bulk s-wave superconductor and subject to a longitudinal applied magnetic field, is shown to realize a one-dimensional topological superconductor with unpaired Majorana fermions localized at both ends. This situation occurs under a wide range of conditions and constitutes what is possibly the most easily accessible physical realization of the elusive Majorana particles in a solid-state system.