Controlling in-gap end states by linking nonmagnetic atoms and artificially-constructed spin chains on superconductors

Abstract

Topologically trivial and Majorana bound states can show spectral weight near the ends of a chain of magnetic atoms on a superconductor. Here, the authors disentangle the two contributions by augmenting a spin chain with orbitally-compatible nonmagnetic atoms, where a persistent zero-energy spectral weight at the transition between the two parts is observed.