Supercurrent detection and manipulation of topological phase transitions in Shiba-Majorana hybrid systems

Abstract

The non-Abelian statistics of Majorana zero modes has inspired numerous proposals for their detection and manipulation in topological superconductors. Implementations based on magnetic adatoms deposited on superconductors draw particular attention due to their capabilities for precise atomic manipulation and the control over disorder. Here, we propose a scheme for detecting changes in the ground state parity of a topologically non-trivial adatom system by passing supercurrent through their low-energy modes. We unravel characteristic discontinuities in the critical current driven by zero-energy level crossings. We apply these findings to a setup where the Majorana coupling is mediated by a single control magnetic adatom hosting a Yu-Shiba-Rusinov state, and test the robustness of our results against finite temperatures and different tunneling regimes. Our findings introduce a non-invasive approach for reading out and controlling the ground state parity of Majorana states in Shiba-Majorana hybrid systems.