Confinement-induced Majorana modes in a nodal topological superconductor

Abstract

We investigate the topological phase diagram of {an extension of the Haldane model with equal spin pairing superconductivity}. In two dimensions, we find a topological nodal superconducting phase, which exhibits a chiral Majorana mode propagating along the edges of nanoribbons with cylindrical boundary conditions. This phase is however unstable in a finite two-dimensional rectangular-shaped lattice, yielding corner states close to zero energy in a flake with alternating zigzag and armchair edges. When we reduce one of the dimensions, quantum confinement gaps out the bulk bands faster than the edge states. In this scenario, hybridization between the edge states can then result in Majorana zero modes. Our results hence suggest quantum confinement as a crucial ingredient in building quasi-one-dimensional topological superconducting phases out of two-dimensional nodal topological superconductors. Furthermore, we characterize the emergence of this novel topological phase by means of its topological invariant, coinciding with a quantized conductance of $2 e^2/h$ in a normal-superconducting junction.