Mechanical Analogue of a Majorana Bound State. Issue 51 (4th November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, Chun‐Wei; Lera, Natalia; Chaunsali, Rajesh; Torrent, Daniel; Alvarez, Jose Vicente; Yang, Jinkyu; San‐Jose, Pablo; Christensen, Johan
• Is Part Of: Advanced materials. Volume 31:Issue 51(2019)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2019-11-04
• Subjects: Majorana bound states -- topological insulators; Materials -- Periodicals; Chemical vapor deposition -- Periodicals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.201904386
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0935-9648

Abstract

Abstract: The discovery of topologically nontrivial electronic systems has opened a new age in condensed matter research. From topological insulators to topological superconductors and Weyl semimetals, it is now understood that some of the most remarkable and robust phases in electronic systems (e.g., quantum Hall or anomalous quantum Hall) are the result of topological protection. These powerful ideas have recently begun to be explored also in bosonic systems. Topologically protected acoustic, mechanical, and optical edge states have been demonstrated in a number of systems that recreate the requisite topological conditions. Such states that propagate without backscattering could find important applications in communications and energy technologies. Here, a topologically bound mechanical state, a different class of nonpropagating protected state that cannot be destroyed by local perturbations, is demonstrated. It is in particular a mechanical analogue of the well‐known Majorana bound states (MBSs) of electronic topological superconductor systems. The topological binding is implemented by creating a Kekulé distortion vortex on a 2D mechanical honeycomb superlattice that can be mapped to a magnetic flux vortex in a topological superconductor. Abstract : It is demonstrated numerically and experimentally that a mechanically vibrating mode can be topologically bound to a vortex fabricated in 2D Kekulé‐distorted mechanical graphene. Such a lattice constitutes an elastic analogue of the Jackiw–Rossi mechanism that topologically binds a bound state in a p‐wave superconductor vortex.