Challenges in detecting topological superconducting transitions via supercurrent and phase probes in planar Josephson junctions

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that common supercurrent and phase measurements are unreliable indicators of topological superconducting transitions in planar Josephson junctions, complicating the experimental identification of Majorana states.

Contribution

The paper provides rigorous numerical analysis showing the limitations of supercurrent and phase probes in detecting topological phases in realistic junctions, highlighting the need for alternative confirmation methods.

Findings

$I_c$ and $\

Anisotropic responses of $I_c$ and $\

Probes based on supercurrent and phase are inconclusive for topological transition detection.

Abstract

Topological superconductors harbor, at their boundaries and vortex cores, zero-energy Majorana bound states, which can be the building blocks in fault-tolerant topological quantum computing. Planar Josephson junctions host such topological superconducting phases, highly tunable by external magnetic field or phase difference between the superconducting leads. Despite many theoretical and experimental studies, the signatures of the transition to a topological superconducting phase, based on minima in the critical supercurrent $I_c$ flowing across the junction, $0$-$\pi$ transition in the ground state junction phase and their anisotropic magnetic-field response have remained unsettled. Using rigorous numerical calculations with several experimentally-relevant parameter settings, we show that $I_c$ and $\varphi_{_{\rm GS}}$ cannot indicate unambiguously topological transition in any realistic planar junctions. Furthermore, the anisotropic variations of $I_c$ and $\varphi_{_{\rm GS}}$ with in-plane magnetic field appear in junctions that are undoubtedly in trivial superconducting phase, raising concerns on the effectiveness of these probes in identifying topological transitions in planar junctions. We discuss possible strategies to confirm a topological superconducting phase in these platforms.