Abstract
We study the magnetic and electronic phases of a one-dimensional (1D) magnetic adatom chain on a 2D superconductor. In particular, we confirm the existence of a "self-organized" 1D topologically nontrivial superconducting phase within the set of subgap Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states formed along the magnetic chain. This phase is stabilized by incommensurate spiral correlations within the magnetic chain that arise from the competition between short-range ferromagnetic and long-range antiferromagnetic electron-induced exchange interactions, similar to a recent study for a 3D superconductor [M. Schecter, Phys. Rev. B 93, 140503(R) (2016)1098-012110.1103/PhysRevB.93.140503]. The exchange interactions along diagonal directions are also considered and found to display behavior similar to a 1D substrate when close to half filling. We show that the topological phase diagram is robust against local superconducting order parameter suppression and weak substrate spin-orbit coupling. Lastly, we study the effect of a direct ferromagnetic exchange coupling between the adatoms, and find the region of spiral order in the phase diagram to be significantly enlarged in a wide range of the direct exchange coupling.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 144509 |
Journal | Physical Review B |
Volume | 94 |
Issue number | 14 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 18 2016 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2016 American Physical Society.