Superconducting doped topological materials

Recently, the search for Majorana fermions (MFs) has become one of the most important and exciting issues in condensed matter physics since such an exotic quasiparticle is expected to potentially give rise to unprecedented quantum phenomena whose functional properties will be used to develop future quantum technology. Theoretically, the MFs may reside in various types of topological superconductor materials that is characterized by the topologically protected gapless surface state which are essentially an Andreev bound state. Superconducting doped topological insulators and topological crystalline insulators are promising candidates to harbor the MFs. In this review, we discuss recent progress and understanding on the research of MFs based on time-reversal-invariant superconducting topological materials to deepen our understanding and have a better outlook on both the search for and realization of MFs in these systems. We also discuss some advantages of these bulk systems to realize MFs including remarkable superconducting robustness against nonmagnetic impurities. Crown Copyright (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.