Accessing topological superconductivity via a combined STM and renormalization group analysis.
The search for topological superconductors has recently become a key issue in condensed matter physics, because of their possible relevance to provide a platform for Majorana bound states, non-Abelian statistics, and quantum computing. Here we propose a new scheme which links as directly as possible the experimental search to a material-based microscopic theory for topological superconductivity. For this, the analysis of scanning tunnelling microscopy, which typically uses a phenomenological ansatz for the superconductor gap functions, is elevated to a theory, where a multi-orbital functional renormalization group analysis allows for an unbiased microscopic determination of the material-dependent pairing potentials. The combined approach is highlighted for paradigmatic hexagonal systems, such as doped graphene and water-intercalated sodium cobaltates, where lattice symmetry and electronic correlations yield a propensity for a chiral singlet topological superconductor. We demonstrate that our microscopic material-oriented procedure is necessary to uniquely resolve a topological superconductor state.
Institute for Theoretical Physics, TP IV, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany.|University Grenoble Alpes, INAC-SPSMS, F-38000 Grenoble, France.|CEA, INAC-SPSMS, F-38000 Grenoble, France.
Lars
L
Elster
Institute for Theoretical Physics, TP I, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany.
Christian
C
Platt
Institute for Theoretical Physics, TP I, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany.
Ronny
R
Thomale
Institute for Theoretical Physics, TP I, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany.
Werner
W
Hanke
Institute for Theoretical Physics, TP IV, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany.
Ewelina M
EM
Hankiewicz