Spin-Orbit Protection of Induced Superconductivity in Majorana Nanowires

5 Jul 2018  ·  Jouri D. S. Bommer, Hao Zhang, Önder Gül, Bas Nijholt, Michael Wimmer, Filipp N. Rybakov, Julien Garaud, Donjan Rodic, Egor Babaev, Matthias Troyer, Diana Car, Sébastien R. Plissard, Erik P. A. M. Bakkers, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Leo P. Kouwenhoven ·

Spin-orbit interaction (SOI) plays a key role in creating Majorana zero modes in semiconductor nanowires proximity coupled to a superconductor. We track the evolution of the induced superconducting gap in InSb nanowires coupled to a NbTiN superconductor in a large range of magnetic field strengths and orientations. Based on realistic simulations of our devices, we reveal SOI with a strength of 0.15-0.35 eV$\require{mediawiki-texvc}\AA$. Our approach identifies the direction of the spin-orbit field, which is strongly affected by the superconductor geometry and electrostatic gates.

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