Inverse proximity effect in semiconductor Majorana nanowires

Area of Science:

• Condensed Matter Physics
• Materials Science
• Quantum Computing

Background:

• Hybrid structures combining semiconductors and superconductors are crucial for topological quantum computing.
• Understanding superconductivity nucleation is key to designing robust Majorana-based devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the inverse proximity effect's influence on superconductivity nucleation in semiconductor-superconductor hybrid structures.
• To analyze the impact of this effect on the operational limits of Majorana-based devices.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical analysis of superconducting correlations in hybrid nanowire-superconductor systems.
• Examination of electron properties including spin-orbit coupling and van Hove singularities.
• Investigation of magnetic field effects on superconducting states.

Main Results:

• The inverse proximity effect, driven by strong paramagnetism and spin-orbit coupling, suppresses superconductivity at low magnetic fields.
• Reentrant superconductivity is observed at high magnetic fields in topologically nontrivial regimes.
• Critical temperature increases up to the critical field, limited by orbital or paramagnetic pair-breaking mechanisms.

Conclusions:

• The study reveals mechanisms suppressing and re-establishing superconductivity in hybrid systems.
• Findings highlight restrictions on Majorana device operation due to superconductivity modulation.
• Conditions for Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov instability are identified near topological phase boundaries.