Atomic Manipulation of In-gap States on the $\beta$-Bi$_2$Pd Superconductor

Abstract

Electronic states in the gap of a superconductor inherit intriguing many-body properties from the superconductor. Here, we create these in-gap states by manipulating Cr atomic chains on the $\beta$-Bi$_2$Pd superconductor. We find that the topological properties of the in-gap states can greatly vary depending on the crafted spin chain. These systems make an ideal platform for non-trivial topological phases because of the large atom-superconductor interactions and the existence of a large Rashba coupling at the Bi-terminated surface. We study two spin chains, one with atoms two-lattice-parameter apart and one with square-root-of-two lattice parameters. Of these, only the second one is in a topologically non-trivial phase, in correspondence with the spin interactions for this geometry.