$6π$ Josephson effect in Majorana box devices

Abstract

We study Majorana devices featuring a competition between superconductivity and multi-channel Kondo physics. Our proposal extends previous work on single-channel Kondo systems to a topologically nontrivial setting of non-Fermi liquid type, where topological superconductor wires (with gap $Δ$) represent leads tunnel-coupled to a Coulomb-blockaded Majorana box. On the box, a spin degree of freedom with Kondo temperature $T_K$ is nonlocally defined in terms of Majorana states. For $Δ\gg T_K$, the destruction of Kondo screening by superconductivity implies a $4π$-periodic Josephson current-phase relation. Using a strong-coupling analysis in the opposite regime $Δ\ll T_K$, we find a $6π$-periodic Josephson relation for three leads, with critical current $I_c\approx eΔ^2/ \hbar T_K$, corresponding to the transfer of fractionalized charges $e^*=2e/3$.

5 pages, 1 figure + supplementary material (3 pages); final version, accepted to PRL