Topological superconducting state and Majorana fermions in carbon nanotubes

Abstract

We show that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are good candidates for one-dimensional topological superconductivity with Majorana fermions (MFs) localized at the tube ends. Such states can potentially be useful for topological quantum computation using a nanotube network. The physics behind topological superconductivity in CNTs is novel and mediated by a recently reported curvature-induced spin-orbit coupling which itself has a topological origin. In addition to the spin-orbit coupling, an important new requirement for a robust topological state is broken chirality symmetry. We use topological arguments, calculations of the topological gap, and explicit numerical solutions of the Bogoliubov–de Gennes equations to show that, for recently reported strengths of spin-orbit coupling and broken chirality symmetry, MFs and a robust topological gap ∼500 mK are achievable in chiral carbon nanotubes.

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