Topological surface superconductivity in doped Weyl loop materials

Abstract

We study surface superconductivity involving the “drumhead” surface states of (doped) Weyl loop materials. The leading weak-coupling instability in the bulk is toward a chiral superconducting order, which fully gaps the Fermi surface. In this state the surface also becomes superconducting, with p+ip symmetry. We show that the surface SC state is “topological” as long as it is fully gapped, and the system traps Majorana modes wherever a vortex line enters or exits the bulk. In contrast to true two-dimensional p+ip superconductors, these Majorana zero modes arise even in the “strong pairing” regime where the chemical potential is entirely above/below the drumhead. We also consider conventional s-wave pairing, and show that in this case the surface hosts a flat band of charge neutral Majorana fermions, whose momentum range is given by the projection of the bulk Fermi surface. Weyl loop materials thus provide access to new forms of topological superconductivity.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

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