Topological protection of Majorana polaritons in a cavity

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that embedding a one-dimensional topological superconductor in a cavity leads to the formation of Majorana polaritons, which preserve topological order and non-abelian properties despite quantum fluctuations.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of Majorana polaritons in a cavity setting and shows their robustness and preservation of topological features through analytical and numerical methods.

Findings

Majorana end modes evolve into polaritonic modes

Topological order remains robust to quantum fluctuations

Majorana polaritons retain non-abelian exchange properties

Abstract

Cavity embedding is an emerging paradigm for the control of quantum matter, offering avenues to manipulate electronic states and potentially drive topological phase transitions. In this work, we address the stability of a one-dimensional topological superconducting phase to the vacuum quantum fluctuations brought by a global cavity mode. By employing a quasi-adiabatic analytical approach completed by density matrix renormalization group calculations, we show that the Majorana end modes evolve into composite polaritonic modes while maintaining the topological order intact and robust to disorder. These Majorana polaritons keep their non-abelian exchange properties and protect a twofold exponentially degenerate ground state for an open chain.