Parity flipping mediated by a quantum dot in Majorana Josephson junctions

Abstract

The detection of the Majorana bound states (MBSs) is a central issue in the current investigation of the topological superconductors, and the topological Josephson junction is an important system for resolving this issue. In this work, we introduce an external quantum dot (QD) to Majorana Josephson junctions (MJJs), and study the parity flipping of the junction induced by the coupling between the QD and the MBSs. We demonstrate Landau-Zener (LZ) transitions between opposite Majorana parity states when the energy level of the QD is modulated. The resulted parity flipping processes exhibit voltage signals across the junction. In the presence of a periodic modulation on the QD level, we show Landau-Zener-St\"{u}ckelberg (LZS) interference on the parity states. We demonstrate distinctive interference patterns at distinct driving frequencies. These results can be used as signals for detecting the existence of the MBSs.