Surface Bogoliubov-Dirac cones and helical Majorana hinge modes in superconducting Dirac semimetals

Majid Kheirkhah, Zheng-Yang Zhuang, Joseph Maciejko, and Zhongbo Yan
Phys. Rev. B 105, 014509 – Published 14 January 2022

Abstract

In the presence of certain symmetries, three-dimensional Dirac semimetals can harbor not only surface Fermi arcs, but also surface Dirac cones. Motivated by the experimental observation of rotation-symmetry-protected Dirac semimetal states in iron-based superconductors, we investigate the potential intrinsic topological phases in a C4z-rotational invariant superconducting Dirac semimetal with s±-wave pairing. When the normal state harbors only surface Fermi arcs on the side surfaces, we find that an interesting gapped superconducting state with a quartet of Bogoliubov-Dirac cones on each side surface can be realized, even though the first-order topology of its bulk is trivial. When the normal state simultaneously harbors surface Fermi arcs and surface Dirac cones, we find that a second-order time-reversal invariant topological superconductor with helical Majorana hinge states can be realized. The criteria for these two distinct topological phases have a simple geometric interpretation in terms of three characteristic surfaces in momentum space. By reducing the bulk material to a thin film normal to the axis of rotation symmetry, we further find that a two-dimensional first-order time-reversal invariant topological superconductor can be realized if the inversion symmetry is broken by applying a gate voltage. Our work reveals that diverse topological superconducting phases and types of Majorana modes can be realized in superconducting Dirac semimetals.

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  • Received 6 July 2021
  • Revised 21 December 2021
  • Accepted 5 January 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.105.014509

©2022 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Majid Kheirkhah1, Zheng-Yang Zhuang2, Joseph Maciejko1,3, and Zhongbo Yan2,*

  • 1Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E1
  • 2School of Physics, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
  • 3Theoretical Physics Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E1

  • *yanzhb5@mail.sysu.edu.cn

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Vol. 105, Iss. 1 — 1 January 2022

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