Topological superconductor to Anderson localization transition in one-dimensional incommensurate lattices

We study the competition of disorder and superconductivity for a one-dimensional p-wave superconductor in incommensurate potentials. With the increase in the strength of the incommensurate potential, the system undergoes a transition from a topological superconducting phase to a topologically trivia...

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Veröffentlicht in:Physical review letters 2013-04, Vol.110 (17), p.176403-176403, Article 176403
Hauptverfasser: Cai, Xiaoming, Lang, Li-Jun, Chen, Shu, Wang, Yupeng
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:We study the competition of disorder and superconductivity for a one-dimensional p-wave superconductor in incommensurate potentials. With the increase in the strength of the incommensurate potential, the system undergoes a transition from a topological superconducting phase to a topologically trivial localized phase. The phase boundary is determined both numerically and analytically from various aspects and the topological superconducting phase is characterized by the presence of Majorana edge fermions in the system with open boundary conditions. We also calculate the topological Z2 invariant of the bulk system and find it can be used to distinguish the different topological phases even for a disordered system.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.176403