Multiple chiral Majorana states in proximitized magnetic topological insulator heterostructures

Abstract

Achieving robust topological superconductivity with multiple Majorana channels is a key step for scalable topological quantum computing. To this end, we investigate magnetically doped three-dimensional topological insulator heterostructures proximitized by an s-wave superconductor within a fully three-dimensional extended Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang framework that explicitly accounts for vertical confinement. We show that magnetic exchange coupling, orbital mixing, and bulk band inversion cooperate to generate effective equal-spin p-wave pairing channels supporting multiple chiral Majorana modes. The number of Majorana channels is determined by the confined modes in the vertical direction and the high-Chern-number phases of the normal state, which allows us to derive an analytical criterion for the emergence of the multiple-Majorana topological superconducting phases. The chiral Majorana modes remain robust against strong disorder and moderate symmetry-breaking perturbations. We also demonstrate that a superconducting phase difference defining a vertical Josephson junction acts as a tunable parameter that controls the hybridization, minigap, and effective multiplicity of the low energy Majorana channels. Our results establish magnetic three-dimensional topological- insulator heterostructures as a promising platform for engineering multiple chiral Majorana modes.