Topological superconductivity of a two-dimensional electron gas at the (001) LaAlO\textsubscript{3}/SrTiO\textsubscript{3} interface

TL;DR

This paper explores topological superconductivity and Majorana modes at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface, revealing how magnetic fields and confinement influence topological phases and edge modes in a multiband 2D electron gas.

Contribution

It provides a detailed phase diagram analysis incorporating realistic orbital and spin-orbit effects, highlighting the role of magnetic field orientation and confinement in topological transitions.

Findings

Finite out-of-plane magnetic field induces topological phases in 2D

Lateral confinement enables topological transitions with in-plane fields

Long localization lengths of Majorana modes in certain subbands

Abstract

We investigate the emergence of topological superconductivity and Majorana zero modes in the two-dimensional electron gas formed at the LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ (001) interface. Using a realistic multiband tight binding model that incorporates the $t_{2g}$ orbital structure together with atomic and Rashba spin-orbit couplings, we determine the topological phase diagrams for both fully two-dimensional and quasi-one-dimensional geometries. In the two-dimensional limit, we show that a finite out-of-plane magnetic-field component is required to drive a topological phase transition. In this case, the critical field is strongly band dependent, and for higher-lying bands, it is controlled by the interplay of spin and orbital Zeeman effects, as well as atomic spin-orbit coupling. Although a purely in-plane field is insufficient to induce the topological transition in a full 2D system, we demonstrate that a lateral confinement relaxes this constraint. In this case, the character of the edge modes depends sensitively on the field orientation, with out-of-plane fields producing conventional counterpropagating chiral modes and transverse in-plane fields giving rise to co-propagating antichiral modes. Finally, Majorana zero modes in LAO/STO nanowires with varying widths are analyzed. We demonstrate that subbands predominantly composed of $d_{yz/xz}$ orbitals exhibit exceptionally long localization lengths, which may preclude the observation of Majorana bound states in nanowires of typical experimental dimensions.