Majorana zero mode assisted spin pumping

Abstract

We present a theoretical investigation of Majorana zero mode (MZM) assisted spin pumping which consists of a quantum dot (QD) and two normal leads. When the coupling between the MZM and the QD is absent, d.c. pure spin current can be excited by a rotating magnetic field where low energy spin down electrons are flipped to high energy spin up electrons by absorbing photons. However, when the coupling is turned on, the d.c. pure spin current vanishes, and an a.c. charge current emerges with its magnitude independent of the coupling strength. We reveal that this change is due to the formation of a highly localized MZM assisted topological Andreev state at the Fermi level, which allows only the injection of electron pairs with opposite spin into the QD. By absorbing or emitting photons, the electron pairs are separated to opposite spin electrons, and then return back to the lead again, generating an a.c. charge current without spin polarization. We demonstrate the switching from d.c. pure spin current to a.c. charge current based on both Kitaev model and a more realistic topological superconductor nanowire. Although this switching can also be induced by partially separated Andreev bound state (ps-ABS) in the topological trivial phase, it is extremely unstable and highly sensitive to the Zeeman field, which is different from the switching induced by MZM. Our result suggests that quantum spin pumping may be a feasible local transport method for detecting the presence of MZMs at the ends of a superconducting nanowire.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Majorana zero mode / spin pumping

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Declarations

The authors declare that they have no competing interests and there are no conflicts.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12034014) and the Shenzhen Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 20231120172734001). The authors thank Z. R. Gong and Z. F. Jiang for useful discussions.

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