Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z1.
Phys Rev Lett. 2013 Nov 15;111(20):206802. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.206802. Epub 2013 Nov 12.
Most physical systems known to date tend to resist entering the topological phase and must be fine-tuned to reach that phase. Here, we introduce a system in which a key dynamical parameter adjusts itself in response to the changing external conditions so that the ground state naturally favors the topological phase. The system consists of a quantum wire formed of individual magnetic atoms placed on the surface of an ordinary s-wave superconductor. It realizes the Kitaev paradigm of topological superconductivity when the wave vector characterizing the emergent spin helix dynamically self-tunes to support the topological phase. We call this phenomenon a self-organized topological state.
迄今为止，大多数已知的物理系统都倾向于抵制进入拓扑相，并且必须进行微调才能达到该相。在这里，我们引入了一个系统，其中一个关键动力学参数会根据外部条件的变化自行调整，从而使基态自然有利于拓扑相。该系统由位于普通 s 波超导体表面的单个磁性原子组成的量子线组成。当表征出射自旋螺旋的波矢动态自调谐以支持拓扑相时，它实现了拓扑超导的 Kitaev 范例。我们称这种现象为自组织拓扑态。
