Hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanowire junctions as useful platforms to study Majorana bound states

Abstract: One of the most promising platforms for one-dimensional topological superconductivity is based on semiconducting nanowires with strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC), where s-wave superconductivity is induced by proximity effect and an external Zeeman field drives the system into the topological superconducting phase with Majorana bound states (MBSs) at the end of the wire. During last years this idea has led to a great number of important experiments in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor systems, where the main signature is an emergent zero-bias peak (ZBP) in the differential conductance as the Zeeman field is increased. This thesis focuses on the study of hybrid superconductor-semiconductor junctions made of semiconducting nanowires with Rashba SOC. We emphasise the importance of employing hybrids superconductor-semiconductor nanowire junctions towards the unambiguously detection of MBSs beyond zero-bias anomalies.