Probing Majorana and Andreev bound states with waiting times

Denis Chevallier (1) , Mathias Albert (2) , Pierre Devillard (3, 4)

1 Unibas - Université de Bâle = University of Basel = Basel Universität
2 LPMC - Laboratoire de physique de la matière condensée
3 CPT - E6 Nanophysique
4 CPT - Centre de Physique Théorique - UMR 7332

We consider a biased normal-superconducting junction with various types of superconductivity. Depending on the class of superconductivity, a Majorana bound state may appear at the interface. We show that this has important consequences on the statistical distribution of time delays between detection of consecutive electrons flowing out of such an interface, namely the waiting time distribution. Therefore, this quantity is shown to be a clear fingerprint of Majorana bound-state physics and may be considered as an experimental signature of its presence.

Mots clés: Superconductivity: Tunneling phenomena; Noise processes and phenomena; Stochastic processes

Domaines: Electrons fortement corrélés [cond-mat.str-el]; Systèmes mésoscopiques et effet Hall quantique [cond-mat.mes-hall]

Denis Chevallier, Mathias Albert, Pierre Devillard. Probing Majorana and Andreev bound states with waiting times. EPL - Europhysics Letters, 2016, 116 (2), pp.27005. ⟨10.1209/0295-5075/116/27005⟩. ⟨hal-01473406⟩