Majorana fermions from Landau quantization in a superconductor--topological-insulator hybrid structure

Rakesh P. Tiwari, U. Zülicke, C. Bruder

Published 2012-10-15Version 1

We show that the interplay of cyclotron motion and Andreev reflection experienced by massless-Dirac-like charge carriers in topological-insulator surface states generates a Majorana-particle excitation. Based on an envelope-function description of the Dirac-Andreev edge states, we discuss the kinematic properties of the Majorana mode and find them to be possible to be tuned by changing the superconductor's chemical potential and/or the magnitude of the perpendicular magnetic field. Our proposal opens up new possibilities for studying Majorana fermions in a controllable setup.