Majorana bound states from textured chiral magnets*

Non-collinear magnetism combined with superconductivity can support the formation of localized Majorana bound states.
We discuss a hybrid system consisting of a conventional superconductor exchange-coupled to a magnetic layer with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI). DMI systems are capable of developing complex magnetic textures spontaneously without a need for external microscopic control of the spin. Experimentally observed textures comprise skyrmions, spin spirals, and topological defects at domain walls.
We investigate theoretically in which cases Majorana modes can be expected in the hybrid system, and support our findings with numerical results. In particular, skyrmion-vortex pairs are highlighted as a candidate composite structure for the creation and individual control of localized Majorana bound states [PRB 100, 064504 (2019)]. Thus, the hetero-systems that we study represent an exciting new platform in the pursuit of topological braiding operations.