Topology from triviality

V. Kaladzhyan (1, 2, 3, 4) , Cristina Bena (1) , Pascal Simon (2)

1 IPHT - Institut de Physique Théorique - UMR CNRS 3681
2 LPS - Laboratoire de Physique des Solides
3 KTH - Royal Institute of Technology [Stockholm]
4 MIPT - Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology [Moscow]

We show that bringing into proximity two topologically trivial systems can give rise to a topological phase. More specifically, we study a 1D metallic nanowire proximitized by a 2D superconducting substrate with a mixed s-wave and p-wave pairing, and we demonstrate both analytically and numerically that the phase diagram of such a setup can be richer than reported before. Thus, apart from the two "expected" well-known phases (i.e., where the substrate and the wire are both simultaneously trivial or topological), we show that there exist two peculiar phases in which the nanowire can be in a topological regime while the substrate is trivial, and vice versa.

Domains: Superconductivity [cond-mat.supr-con]

V. Kaladzhyan, Cristina Bena, Pascal Simon. Topology from triviality. Physical Review B, 2018, 97 (10), pp.104512. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevB.97.104512⟩. ⟨cea-03196169⟩