Engineering anomalous Floquet Majorana modes and their time evolution in helical Shiba chain

Abstract: We theoretically explore the Floquet generation of Majorana end modes~(MEMs) (both regular $0$- and anomalous $\pi$-modes) implementing a periodic sinusoidal modulation in chemical potential in an experimentally feasible setup based on a one-dimensional chain of magnetic impurity atoms having spin spiral configuration (out-of-plane N\'eel-type) fabricated on the surface of most common bulk $s$-wave superconductor. We obtain a rich phase diagram in the parameter space, highlighting the possibility of generating multiple $0$-/$\pi$-MEMs localized at the end of the chain. We also study the real-time evolution of these emergent MEMs, especially when they start to appear in the time domain. These MEMs are topologically characterized by employing the dynamical winding number. We observe that the existing perturbative analysis is unable to explain the numerical findings, indicating the complex mechanism behind the formation of the Floquet Shiba minigap, which is characteristically distinct from other setup e.g. Rashba nanowire model. We also discuss the possible experimental parameters in connection to our model. Our work paves the way to realize the Floquet MEMs in a magnet-superconductor heterostructure.