Spin and Majorana polarization in topological superconducting wires

Abstract

We study a one-dimensional wire with strong Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling (SOC), which supports Majorana fermions when subject to a Zeeman magnetic field and in proximity of a superconductor. Using both analytical and numerical techniques we calculate the electronic spin texture of the Majorana end states. We find that the spin polarization of these states depends on the relative magnitude of the Rashba and Dresselhaus SOC components. Moreover, we define and calculate a local "Majorana polarization" and "Majorana density" and argue that they can be used as order parameters to characterize the topological transition between the trivial system and the system exhibiting Majorana bound modes. We find that the local "Majorana polarization" is correlated to the transverse spin polarization, and we propose to test the presence of Majorana fermions in a 1D system by a spin-polarized density of states measurement.