Topological vortex phase transitions in iron-based superconductors

Shengshan Qin, Lunhui Hu, Xianxin Wu, Xia Dai, Chen Fang, Fu Chun Zhang*, Jiangping Hu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We study topological vortex phases in iron-based superconductors. Besides the previously known vortex end Majorana zero modes (MZMs) phase stemming from the existence of a three dimensional (3D) strong topological insulator state, we show that there is another topologically nontrivial phase as iron-based superconductors can be doped superconducting 3D weak topological insulators (WTIs). The vortex bound states in a superconducting 3D WTI exhibit two different types of quantum states, a robust nodal superconducting phase with pairs of bulk MZMs and a full-gap topologically nontrivial superconducting phase which has single vortex end MZM in a certain range of doping level. Moreover, we predict and summarize various topological phases in iron-based superconductors, and find that carrier doping and interlayer coupling can drive systems to have phase transitions between these different topological phases.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1207-1214
Number of pages8
JournalScience Bulletin
Volume64
Issue number17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Sept 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Iron-based superconductors
  • Majorana modes
  • Vortex bound states
  • Weak topological insulators

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