Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions in a topological superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor junction

We investigate quantum phase transitions in a topological Josephson junction with an embedded ferromagnetic layer, revealing a rich landscape of critical phenomena. The low-energy excitations comprise Majorana fermions propagating along the junction, coupled to the magnons in the ferromagnet. Based on mean-field and renormalization group arguments, we predict Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transitions in this system, both in the case of a magnetic easy-plane and weak easy-axis anisotropy. In the latter case, this is based on an emergent effective easy plane, spanned by the easy axis and the component of the magnetization, which couples to the Majoranas. We conclude by presenting a conjecture for the full phase diagram of the model. It covers BKT transitions as well as exotic multicritical and supersymmetric points known from related models of interacting real fermions and bosons.

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Publication Details

Journal
Physical review. B./Physical review. B
Published
2025-05-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.111.205428
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Topological Materials and Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.25

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article

Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions in a topological superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor junction

Alexander Shnirman, D. S. Shapiro, Adrian Reich
1 citations
Physical review. B./Physical review. B
Topological Materials and Phenomena
1.25
article

Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions in a topological superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor junction

Alexander Shnirman, D. S. Shapiro, Adrian Reich
article en
1 citations

Abstract

We investigate quantum phase transitions in a topological Josephson junction with an embedded ferromagnetic layer, revealing a rich landscape of critical phenomena. The low-energy excitations comprise Majorana fermions propagating along the junction, coupled to the magnons in the ferromagnet. Based on mean-field and renormalization group arguments, we predict Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transitions in this system, both in the case of a magnetic easy-plane and weak easy-axis anisotropy. In the latter case, this is based on an emergent effective easy plane, spanned by the easy axis and the component of the magnetization, which couples to the Majoranas. We conclude by presenting a conjecture for the full phase diagram of the model. It covers BKT transitions as well as exotic multicritical and supersymmetric points known from related models of interacting real fermions and bosons.

Physical review. B./Physical review. BVol. 111(20)
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE), Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE)
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Openalex Percentile: Top 21%
Topological Materials and Phenomena
1.25
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