Anomalous Josephson Effect of s-Wave Pairing States in Chiral Double Layers

Abstract

We consider s-wave pairing in a double layer of two chiral metals due to interlayer Coulomb interaction and study the Josephson effect near a domain wall, where the sign of the order parameter jumps. The domain wall creates two evanescent modes at the exceptional zero-energy point, whose superposition is associated with currents flowing in different directions in the two layers. Assuming a toroidal geometry, the effective Josephson current winds around the domain walls, whose direction is determined by the phase difference of the complex coefficients of the superimposed zero-energy modes. Thus, the zero-energy mode is directly linked to a macroscopic current. This result can be understood as an interplay of the conventional Josephson current perpendicular and the edge current parallel to a domain wall in a double layer of two chiral metals. As a realization we suggest the surface of a ring-shaped topological insulator. The duality between electron-electron and electron-hole double layers indicates that this effect should also be observable in excitonic double layers.

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