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Science Aax6361
Science Aax6361
T
breakdown) of the QAH effect. When the QAH
opological superconductors (TSCs) are tations, however, are also possible. For exam- and SC layers are strongly coupled, as demon-
predicted to host Majorana fermions, ple, Huang et al. (24) and Ji and Wen (25) strated by our differential conductance data, s1,2
particles that are their own antiparticles theoretically discussed two different scenarios is always half-quantized when the magnetization
(1–5). These Majorana fermions obey in which a s1,2 = 0.5e2/h plateau (where e is is well aligned. Our conclusions are supported
non-Abelian statistics and are promising the elementary charge and h is the Planck by measurements on ~30 devices (29).
candidates to form a topological qubit, which constant) can arise without invoking the Figure 1C shows the temperature depen-
is the basis for fault-tolerant topological quan- Majorana physics. Huang et al. considered dence of the Nb finger and the Nb strip resist-
tum computation (6–8). TSCs are predicted the percolation of QAH edges induced by ance. The Nb finger becomes superconducting
to appear in a variety of condensed matter magnetic disorder in the QAH insulator as below its critical temperature Tc,finger ~ 5 K.
quantum systems including strong spin-orbit– an alternative origin for the s1,2 = 0.5e2/h The critical temperature of the Nb strip Tc,strip
coupled semiconductor-SC hybrid devices (9, 10), plateau. Ji and Wen argued that the s1,2 = is ~8.6 K. Because we are using a two-terminal
fractional quantum Hall (QH) systems at fill- 0.5e2/h plateau can arise if the SC layer pro- technique to measure the resistance (between
ing factor n = 5/2 (11, 12), spinless px + ipy SCs vides good electrical contact to the chiral edge electrodes 8a and 8b in Fig. 1A), the normal
such as Sr2RuO4 (2, 13), hybrid topological modes of the QAH insulator. In other words, leads contribute ~40 ohms to the total resist-
insulator (TI)–SC devices (9), integer QH in- the local equilibrium between the chiral edge ance, which has been subtracted. Figure 1D
sulators covered by a conventional s-wave modes of the QAH insulators and the SC strip plots the magnetic field (m0H) dependence
SC (14), and thin films of transition metal ensures that the total resistance is the series of the resistances of the Nb finger and the
dichalcogenides (15, 16). Theoretical work has resistance of two separate QAH regions, each Nb strip. The Nb strip has an upper critical
predicted a chiral TSC phase when a quan- with h/e2 resistance (26). field m0Hc2,strip ~ 2.9 T. Shown in Fig. 1, E and
tum anomalous Hall (QAH) insulator, a zero– Here, we studied the effect of contact trans- F, are the m0H dependence of the longitudinal
magnetic field manifestation of the integer parency in the appearance of the s1,2 = resistance (conductance) rxx (sxx) and the
QH effect (17, 18), is coupled to an s-wave SC 0.5e2/h plateau. To this end, we fabricated Hall resistance (conductance) ryx (sxy) at Vg =
(14, 19). magnetic TI-SC hybrid devices, an example of Vg0 = +42 V and T = 30 mK, where typical
The QAH effect has been experimentally which is shown in Fig. 1, A and B. Our device QAH characteristics, quantized ryx (sxy) ac-
demonstrated in thin films of magnetically consists of a superconducting Nb strip (width companied by vanishing rxx (sxx), are ob-
doped TI (18, 20–22). He et al. (23) recently ~20 mm) covering the entire width of the QAH served. Because the rxx peak value during
reported a half-quantized plateau in the two- layer on the left, a configuration similar to magnetization reversal is comparable to the
terminal conductance s1,2 converted from re- that in (23), and a narrow Nb finger (width quantized ryx value, the zero–Hall conduct-
sistance measured across a millimeter-size ~200 nm) on the right (Fig. 1, A and B). The ance sxy = 0 plateau [i.e., Chern number C = 0
QAH-Nb hybrid structure and interpreted QAH sample in this device is a sandwich of phase (30)] is not observable. The sxy = 0
the half-quantized s1,2 plateau during mag- 3QL Cr-doped (Bi, Sb)2Te3 / 5QL (Bi, Sb)2Te3 / plateau is usually observed in thinner, uni-
netization reversal as a “distinct signature” 3QL Cr-doped (Bi, Sb)2Te3, where QL stands formly doped QAH samples with a larger rxx
of one-dimensional chiral Majorana edge for quintuple layer (27). Our device was de- peak (31, 32).
modes (CMEMs) (19). Alternative interpre- signed such that (i) the contact transparency We characterized the interface transpar-
between the magnetic TI and SC layers can ency of the magnetic TI-Nb finger junction
1
be characterized using a differential conduct- by measuring its differential conductance,
Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University,
ance measurement on the QAH-Nb finger which is related to the probabilities of the
University Park, PA 16802, USA. 2Faculty for Physics and
Astronomy (EP3), University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, junction (28); (ii) the possible existence of the Andreev reflection (AR) and the normal reflec-
D-97074 Würzburg, Germany. 3Institute for Topological CMEMs can be investigated by analyzing the tion (NR) across the interface. Figure 2, A and
Insulators, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany. two-terminal conductance s1,2 deduced from B, shows the differential upstream conductance
*These authors contributed equally to this work.
†Corresponding author. Email: mhc2@psu.edu (M.H.W.C.); resistance measured across the QAH-Nb strip sU = dI6,8 /dV7,8 and the downstream conduct-
nxs16@psu.edu (N.S.); cxc955@psu.edu (C.-Z.C.). device (19, 23). Furthermore, our QAH film ance sD = dI6,8 /dV9,8, where the subscript
Fig. 1. QAH-Nb device and characterizations. (A) Schematic of the device in the resistance of the Nb finger at T ~ 8.6 K is associated with a superconducting
consisting of a QAH insulator layer, a Nb strip, and a Nb finger. The Nb finger is transition of the Nb section with a larger width (~4 mm) in the device; see (B)
used to characterize the magnetic TI-Nb contact transparency, whereas the Nb and the inset of Fig. 2A. (D) m0H dependence of the resistance of the Nb finger
strip is used to study the two-terminal conductance s1,2 across the QAH-Nb and Nb strip. (E and F) The four-terminal longitudinal and Hall resistance
structure. (B) Optical microscope image of the device. (C) Temperature (rxx and ryx) (E) and their corresponding longitudinal and Hall conductance
dependence of the normalized resistance of the Nb finger and Nb strip. The drop (sxx and sxy) (F) as a function of m0H measured at Vg = Vg0 = +42 V and T = 30 mK.
(19) treated the superconductor strip merely s1,2 ~ e2/(n + 1)h, which indicates that the 27. J. Jiang et al., arXiv 1901.07611 [cond-mat.mes-hall]
as the “source” of the small energy gap while total two-terminal resistance r1,2 is a series (28 January 2019).
28. G. H. Lee et al., Nat. Phys. 13, 693–698 (2017).
overlooking the fact that the superconductor resistance of (n + 1) QAH sections, each con- 29. See supplementary materials.
strip also serves as an “electrical short” for the tributing h/e2 (26). 30. J. Wang, B. Lian, S. C. Zhang, Phys. Rev. B 89, 085106 (2014).
31. X. Kou et al., Nat. Commun. 6, 8474 (2015).
QAH device. Our results demonstrate that if the SC layer
32. Y. Feng et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 126801 (2015).
Our results, on the other hand, show that is strongly coupled to the QAH sample, the two- 33. M. Kawamura et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 016803 (2017).
the s1,2 = e2/h plateau in the C = 1 phase is terminal conductance s1,2 is half-quantized 34. E. J. Fox et al., Phys. Rev. B 98, 075145 (2018).
very likely a result of decoupling of the QAH throughout the magnetic field range where 35. M. Götz et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 112, 072102 (2018).
36. G. E. Blonder, M. Tinkham, T. M. Klapwijk, Phys. Rev. B 25,
insulator from the Nb layer. Hence, it is not the magnetization is well aligned. The agree- 4515–4532 (1982).
predicated upon the existence of a TSC phase ment among the data obtained from the var- 37. M. Tinkham, Introduction to Superconductivity (McGraw-Hill, 1996).
38. S. Grauer et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 246801 (2017).
with N = 2. To exclude the possibility that the ious QAH samples with different geometries
39. M. Winnerlein et al., Phy. Rev. Mater. 1, 011201 (2017).
s1,2 ~ 0.5e2/h plateau observed in our QAH demonstrates the robustness, reproducibility, 40. S. Grauer et al., Phys. Rev. B 92, 201304 (2015).
sandwich sample may be caused by the ab- and generality of the presented phenomena. 41. D. Xiao et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 056801 (2018).
sence of the zero–Hall conductance plateau Therefore, we conclude that the observation 42. M. Mogi et al., Sci. Adv. 3, eaao1669 (2017).
(i.e., the C = 0 phase), we carried out mea- of s1,2 ~ 0.5e2/h plateau alone is not sufficient 43. C. Z. Chang, Data for “Absence of Evidence for Chiral Majorana
Modes in Quantum Anomalous Hall-Superconductor Devices”;
surements on QAH samples with the C = 0 evidence for the existence of chiral Majorana https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/QWQEHT, Harvard Dataverse
phase. We fabricated two 6QL Cr-doped (Bi, edge modes and the N = 1 TSC phase in the (2019).
Sb)2Te3 samples similar to the ones used in millimeter-size QAH-SC hybrid structures.
AC KNOWLED GME NTS
(23). Next, we scratched both samples into
We thank C. X. Liu, K. T. Law, B. Lian, J. Wang, X. Dai, J. Jain,
millimeter-size Hall bar structures (0.5 mm × RE FERENCES AND NOTES H. Z. Lu, Z. Wang, B. H. Yan, G. H. Lee, Y. L. Chen, K. He, W. J. Ji,
1 mm) and then sputtered Nb strips onto the 1. E. Majorana, Nuovo Cim. 14, 171–184 (1937). Q. K. Xue, and X. D. Xu for helpful discussions. Funding: Supported
samples with a mask. We measured s1,2 across 2. N. Read, D. Green, Phys. Rev. B 61, 10267–10297 (2000). by ONR grant N-000141512370 and Penn State 2DCC-MIP under
NSF grant DMR-1539916 (N.S.); DOE grant DE-FG01-08ER46531
one and two Nb strips. The value of s1,2 for one 3. C. W. J. Beenakker, Annu. Rev. Condens. Matter Phys. 4,
(Q.L.); NSF grant DMR-1707340 (M.H.W.C.); NSF-CAREER award
113–136 (2013).
Nb strip sample (Fig. 4A) is similar to that 4. J. Alicea, Rep. Prog. Phys. 75, 076501 (2012). DMR-1847811, ARO Young Investigator Program Award
measured in the QAH sandwich sample (Fig. 5. X. L. Qi, S. C. Zhang, Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1057–1110 (2011). W911NF1810198, and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship
6. A. Y. Kitaev, Ann. Phys. 303, 2–30 (2003). (C.-Z.C.); and EU ERC-AG Programs (project 3-TOP and 4TOPS)
3A). Therefore, the existence or the nonexis- (C.G. and L.W.M.). Support for transport measurements and data
7. F. Wilczek, Nat. Phys. 5, 614–618 (2009).
tence of the zero–Hall conductance plateau 8. C. Nayak, S. H. Simon, A. Stern, M. Freedman, S. Das Sarma, analysis at Penn State is provided by DOE grant DE-SC0019064.
in QAH samples does not change our find- Rev. Mod. Phys. 80, 1083–1159 (2008). Author contributions: N.S., M.H.W.C., and C.-Z.C. conceived and
designed the experiment; D.X. and R.X. grew the QAH samples.
ings; specifically, the s1,2 ~ 0.5e2/h plateau is 9. L. Fu, C. L. Kane, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 096407 (2008).
M.K. fabricated the devices; M.K., J.S., and R.Z. performed the
observed for the entire m0H region with well- 10. R. M. Lutchyn, J. D. Sau, S. Das Sarma, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105,
dilution refrigerator measurements; M.K., J.J., F.W., Y.-F.Z.,
077001 (2010).
aligned magnetization. We also studied the 11. G. Moore, N. Read, Nucl. Phys. B 360, 362–396 (1991). and L.Z. carried out the PPMS transport measurements; C.G. and
L.W.M. conceived and designed the experiment done in Würzburg;
V-doped TI/TI/Cr-doped TI QAH sandwich 12. A. Stern, Nature 464, 187–193 (2010).
13. A. P. Mackenzie, Y. Maeno, Rev. Mod. Phys. 75, 657–712 (2003). M.W. grew the QAH samples in Würzburg; K.M.F. and P.M.
samples, in which a well-established C = 0 fabricated the devices and performed the dilution refrigerator
14. X. L. Qi, T. L. Hughes, S. C. Zhang, Phys. Rev. B 82, 184516 (2010).
insulating phase (i.e., the axion insulator state) 15. N. F. Q. Yuan, K. F. Mak, K. T. Law, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 097001 measurements in Würzburg; M.K., C.G., N.S., M.H.W.C., and C.-Z.C.
emerges (41, 42). Here, we also observed the (2014). wrote the manuscript; all authors contributed to the analysis
of the data and the final editing of the manuscript. Competing
s1,2 ~ 0.5e2/h plateau for the entire m0H region 16. Y. T. Hsu, A. Vaezi, M. H. Fischer, E. A. Kim, Nat. Commun. 8,
interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Data and
14985 (2017).
with well-aligned magnetization (see fig. S7). 17. F. D. M. Haldane, Phys. Rev. Lett. 61, 2015–2018 (1988). materials availability: All data in the main text and the
To better understand the relation between s1,2 18. C. Z. Chang et al., Science 340, 167–170 (2013). supplementary materials are available at (43).
and the coupling of the SC layer to the chiral 19. J. Wang, Q. Zhou, B. Lian, S. C. Zhang, Phys. Rev. B 92, SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
064520 (2015).
edge modes, we measured s1,2 across a 6QL 20. C. Z. Chang et al., Nat. Mater. 14, 473–477 (2015). science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6473/64/suppl/DC1
Cr-doped (Bi, Sb)2Te3 QAH sample with two 21. J. G. Checkelsky et al., Nat. Phys. 10, 731–736 (2014). Materials and Methods
Supplementary Text
Nb strips. We observed s1,2 ~ e2/3h for the 22. X. Kou et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 137201 (2014).
Figs. S1 to S10
23. Q. L. He et al., Science 357, 294–299 (2017).
entire well-aligned m0H regimes (Fig. 4B). The 24. Y. Y. Huang, F. Setiawan, J. D. Sau, Phys. Rev. B 97, 100501 (2018). References (44–46)
value of the s1,2 plateau decreases with an in- 25. W. Ji, X. G. Wen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 107002 (2018). 9 April 2019; accepted 7 November 2019
creasing number of Nb strips (n), specifically 26. C. Z. Chang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 057206 (2015). 10.1126/science.aax6361