Topological Josephson ϕ0 junctions

Fabrizio Dolcini; Manuel Houzet; Julia S. Meyer

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.92.035428

← Back to search

Topological Josephson ϕ0 junctions

Fabrizio Dolcini, Manuel Houzet, Julia S. Meyer

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.92.035428 · Physical Review B

T1

Active bibliographic source — not scientific approval

Bibliographic access preserves source history; it does not approve extracted materials or validate reported claims. Review warnings on each occurrence separately.

Abstract

We study the effect of a magnetic field on the current-phase relation of a topological Josephson junction formed by connecting two superconductors through the helical edge states of a quantum spin-Hall insulator. We predict that the Zeeman effect along the spin quantization axis of the helical edges results in an anomalous Josephson relation that allows for a supercurrent to flow in the absence of superconducting phase bias. We relate the associated field-tunable phase shift ϕ0 in the Josephson relation of such a ϕ0 junction to the existence of a so-called helical superconductivity, which may result from the interplay of the Zeeman effect and spin-orbit coupling. We analyze the dependence of the magneto-supercurrent on the junction length and discuss its observability in suitably designed hybrid structures subject to an in-plane magnetic field.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

Formula	Reported Tc (K)	Pressure (GPa)	Type
HgTe/CdTe Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	—	Pressure not reported	unknown
InAs/GaSb Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	—	Pressure not reported	unknown