Odd-Parity Pairing and Topological Superconductivity in a Strongly Spin-Orbit Coupled Semiconductor

Abstract

The existence of topological superconductors preserving time-reversal symmetry was recently predicted, and they are expected to provide a solid-state realization of itinerant massless Majorana fermions and a route to topological quantum computation. Their first likely example, CuxBi2Se3, was discovered last year, but the search for new materials has so far been hindered by the lack of a guiding principle. Here, we report point-contact spectroscopy experiments suggesting that the low-carrier-density superconductor Sn1−xInxTe is accompanied by surface Andreev bound states which, with the help of theoretical analysis, would give evidence for odd-parity pairing and topological superconductivity. The present and previous finding of possible topological superconductivity in Sn1−xInxTe and CuxBi2Se3 suggests that odd-parity pairing favored by strong spin-orbit coupling is likely to be a common underlying mechanism for materializing topological superconductivity.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

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