Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-16-2015
Publication Title
Europhysics Letters (EPL)
Department
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
We present quantum control techniques to engineer flat bands of symmetry-protected Majorana edge modes in s -wave superconductors. Specifically, we show how periodic control may be employed for designing time-independent effective Hamiltonians, which support Floquet Majorana flat bands, starting from equilibrium conditions that are either topologically trivial or only support individual Majorana pairs. In the first approach, a suitable modulation of the chemical potential simultaneously induces Majorana flat bands and dynamically activates a pre-existing chiral symmetry which is responsible for their protection. In the second approach, the application of effective parity kicks dynamically generates a desired chiral symmetry by suppressing chirality- breaking terms in the static Hamiltonian. Our results demonstrate how the use of time-dependent control enlarges the range of possibilities for realizing gapless topological superconductivity, potentially enabling access to topological states of matter that have no known equilibrium counterpart.
DOI
10.1209/0295-5075/110/17004
Dartmouth Digital Commons Citation
Poudel, A.; Ortiz, G.; and Viola, L., "Dynamical Generation of Floquet Majorana Flat Bands in S-Wave Superconductors" (2015). Dartmouth Scholarship. 2664.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/2664
