Skyrmion-induced bound states in a p-wave superconductor

Abstract

In s-wave systems, it has been theoretically shown that a ferromagnetic film hosting a skyrmion can induce a bound state embedded in the opposite-spin continuum. In this work, we consider a case of skyrmion-induced state in a p-wave superconductor. We find that the skyrmion induces a bound state that generally resides within the spectral gap and is isolated from all other states, in contrast to the case of conventional superconductors. To this end, we derive an approximate expression for the T matrix, through which we calculate the spin-polarized local density of states which is observable in scanning tunneling microscopy measurements. We find the unique spectroscopic features of the skyrmion-induced bound state and discuss how our predictions could be employed as experimental probes for p-wave superconducting states.