Engineering topological states in arrays of magnetic molecules in interaction with a 2D superconductor

Recent studies predicted that the interaction between a 2D superconductor and local magnetism could induce topological superconductivity accompanied by Majorana edge states. To address this challenge, we have studied a system based on the interaction between self-assemblies of molecular magnets, i.e. manganese phthalocyanines (MnPcs), and thin films of lead (1 and 3 monolayers) grown on Si(111) surfaces that show 2D superconductivity.Our Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) experiments revealed that, adsorption of a tiny amount of MnPcs on a Pb monolayer is accompanied by a very small charge transfer inducing a macroscopic structural phase transition of the surface itself. Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy (STS) experiments at 300mK on 3 monolayers thick islands of Pb/Si(111) showed the presence of non-trivial effects responsible for the spatial fluctuation of the coherence peaks amplitude on a length scale much smaller than the superconducting coherence length. Furthermore, contrary to what shown on bulk Pb substrates, STS experiments strongly suggest that isolated MnPcs are always found in a weak interaction regime with the 3 monolayers thick Pb islands. Our results together with the observation of an in-gap spectroscopic feature located at the edge of a self-assembled 2D domain of MnPcs pave the route to future studies for the engineering of superconducting topological phases..