Manipulation of Majorana bound states in proximity to a quantum ring with Rashba coupling*

The quest for Majorana zero modes in the laboratory is an active field of research in condensed matter physics. In this regard, there have been many theoretical proposals; however, their experimental detection remains elusive. In this article, we present a realistic setting by considering a quantum ring with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and threaded by a magnetic flux, in contact with a topological superconducting nanowire. We focus on spin-polarized persistent currents to assess the existence of Majorana zero modes. We find that the Rashba spin-orbit coupling allows for tuning the position of the zero modes in flux space and has sizable effects on spin-polarized persistent currents. Our results pave the way towards probing the existence of Majorana zero modes.

[1] A. Y. Kitaev, Physics-Uspekhi 44, 131 (2001).

[2] E. Prada, P. San-Jose, M. W. A. de Moor, A. Geresdi, E. J. H. Lee, J. Klinovaja, D. Loss, J. Nygård, R. Aguado and L. P. Kouwenhoven, Nat. Rev. Phys. 2, 575 (2020).

[3] E. Prada, R. Aguado and P. San José, Phys. Rev. B 96, 085418 (2017).

[4] J. P. Ramos-Andrade, P. A. Orellana and S. E. Ulloa J. Phys. Condens. Matter 30, 045301 (2018).

[5] S. K. Maiti, M. Dey and S. N. Karmakar, Physica E 64, 169 (2014).