Rosales Ahumada, Luis Esteban

2022-12-01, Medina, Fabián Gonzalo, Martínez, Dunkan, Díaz-Fernández, Álvaro, Domínguez-Adame, Francisco, Rosales, Luis, Orellana, Pedro A.

AbstractThe quest for Majorana zero modes in the laboratory is an active field of research in condensed matter physics. In this regard, there have been many theoretical proposals; however, their experimental detection remains elusive. In this article, we present a realistic setting by considering a quantum ring with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and threaded by a magnetic flux, in contact with a topological superconducting nanowire. We focus on spin-polarized persistent currents to assess the existence of Majorana zero modes. We find that the Rashba spin-orbit coupling allows for tuning the position of the zero energy crossings in the flux parameter space and has sizable effects on spin-polarized persistent currents. We believe that our results will contribute towards probing the existence of Majorana zero modes.