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One-dimensional spin-orbit coupled Dirac system with extended $s$-wave superconductivity: Majorana modes and Josephson effects

Motivated by the spin-momentum locking of electrons at the boundaries of topological insulators, we study a one-dimensional system of spin-orbit coupled massless Dirac electrons with $s$-wave superconducting pairing. As a result of the spin-orbit coupling, our model has only two kinds of linearly dispersing modes, which we take to be right-moving spin-up and left-moving spin-down. Both lattice and continuum models are studied. In the lattice model, we find that a single Majorana zero energy mode appears at each end of a finite system provided that the $s$-wave pairing has an extended form, with the nearest-neighbor pairing being larger than the on-site pairing. We confirm this both numerically and analytically by calculating the winding number. Next we study a lattice version of a model with both Schrödinger and Dirac-like terms and find that the model hosts a topological transition between topologically trivial and non-trivial phases depending on the relative strength of the Schrödinger and Dirac terms. We then study a continuum system consisting of two $s$-wave superconductors with different phases of the pairing. Remarkably, we find that the system has a {\it single} Andreev bound state which is localized at the junction. When the pairing phase difference crosses a multiple of $2 π$, an Andreev bound state touches the top of the superconducting gap and disappears, and a different state appears from the bottom of the gap. We also study the AC Josephson effect in such a junction with a voltage bias that has both a constant $V_0$ and a term which oscillates with a frequency $ω$. We find that, in contrast to standard Josephson junctions, Shapiro plateaus appear when the Josephson frequency $ω_J= 2eV_0/\hbar$ is a rational fraction of $ω$. We discuss experiments which can realize such junctions.