Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-28-2014

Publication Title

Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

Department

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Abstract

We demonstrate how the nontrivial interplay between spin-orbit coupling and nodeless s-wave superconductivity can drive a fully gapped two-band topological insulator into a time-reversal invariant gapless topological superconductor supporting symmetry-protected Majorana flat bands. We characterize topological phase diagrams by a Z2×Z2 partial Berry-phase invariant, and show that, despite the trivial crystal geometry, no unique bulk-boundary correspondence exists. We trace this behavior to the anisotropic quasiparticle bulk gap closing, linear vs quadratic, and argue that this provides a unifying principle for gapless topological superconductivity. Experimental implications for tunneling conductance measurements are addressed, relevant for lead chalcogenide materials.

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevB.89.140507

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