Role of dephasing on the conductance signatures of Majorana zero modes

TL;DR

This paper investigates how dephasing affects the conductance signatures of Majorana zero modes in nanowire-superconductor systems, highlighting differences between coherent and non-coherent regimes and implications for realistic device modeling.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of dephasing effects on Majorana conductance signatures, distinguishing between coherent and non-coherent regimes and their impact on conductance lineshapes.

Findings

Dephasing reduces conductance peak magnitude proportionally to impurity scattering.

Majorana zero modes retain their character despite dephasing, with no length dependence in conductance.

Non-coherent dephasing does not significantly alter the topological conductance signatures.

Abstract

Conductance signatures that signal the presence of Majorana zero modes in a three terminal nanowire-topological superconductor hybrid system are analyzed in detail, in both the clean nanowire limit and in the presence of non-coherent dephasing interactions. In the coherent transport regime for a clean wire, we point out contributions of the local Andreev reflection and the non-local transmissions toward the total conductance lineshapes while clarifying the role of contact broadening on the Majorana conductance lineshapes at the magnetic field parity crossings. Interestingly, at larger $B$-field parity crossings, the contribution of the Andreev reflection process decreases which is compensated by the non-local processes in order to maintain the conductance quantum regardless of contact coupling strength. In the non-coherent transport regime, we include dephasing that is introduced by momentum randomization processes, that allows one to smoothly transition to the diffusive limit. Here, as expected, we note that while the Majorana character of the zero modes is unchanged, there is a reduction in the conductance peak magnitude that scales with the strength of the impurity scattering potentials. Important distinctions between the effect of non-coherent dephasing processes and contact-induced tunnel broadenings in the coherent regime on the conductance lineshapes are elucidated. Most importantly our results reveal that the addition of dephasing in the set up does not lead to any notable length dependence to the conductance of the zero modes, contrary to what one would expect in a gradual transition to the diffusive limit. We believe this work paves a way for a systematic introduction of scattering processes into the realistic modeling of Majorana nanowire hybrid devices and assessing topological signatures in such systems in the presence of non-coherent scattering processes.