Theory of Topological Superconductivity in Doped IV-VI Semiconductors

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical study of unconventional topological superconductivity in doped IV-VI semiconductors, revealing diverse nodal and nodeless phases with Majorana surface states and proposing experimental tests.

Contribution

It introduces a minimal effective model predicting various topologically nontrivial superconducting states, including Dirac and second-order topological phases, in doped IV-VI semiconductors.

Findings

Identification of topological Dirac superconductors with Majorana arcs

Prediction of mirror-symmetry-protected second-order topological superconductor

Mapping of phase diagram with diverse nodal and nodeless states

Abstract

We theoretically study potential unconventional superconductivity in doped AB-type IV-VI semi-conductors, based on a minimal effective model with interaction up to the next-nearest neighbors. According to the experimental implications, we focus on the spin-triplet channels and obtain the superconducting phase diagram with respect to the anisotropy of the Fermi surfaces and the interaction strength. Abundant nodal and nodeless states with different symmetry breaking appear in the phase diagram, and all the states are time reversal invariant and topologically nontrivial. Specifically, the various nodal superconducting ground states, dubbed as the topological Dirac superconductors, are featured by Dirac nodes in the bulk and Majorana arcs on the surface; among the full-gap states, there exist a mirror-symmetry-protected second-order topological superconductor state favoring helical Majorana hinge cones, and different first-order topological superconductor states supporting 4 surface Majorana cones. The experimental verification of the different kinds of superconducting ground states is also discussed.