Majorana bound states in encapsulated bilayer graphene

The search for robust topological superconductivity and Majorana bound states contin-ues, exploring both one-dimensional (1D) systems such as semiconducting nanowires and two-dimensional (2D) platforms. In this work we study a 2D approach based on graphene bilayers encapsulated in transition metal dichalcogenides that, unlike previ-ous proposals involving the Quantum Hall regime in graphene, requires weaker magnetic fields and does not rely on interactions. The encapsulation induces strong spin-orbit cou-pling on the graphene bilayer, which opens a sizeable gap and stabilizes fragile pairs of helical edge states. We show that, when subject to an in-plane Zeeman field, armchair edges can be transformed into p-wave one-dimensional topological superconductors by contacting them laterally with conventional superconductors. We demonstrate the emer-gence of Majorana bound states (MBSs) at the sample corners of crystallographically perfect flakes, belonging either to the D or the BDI symmetry classes depending on pa-rameters. We compute the phase diagram, the resilience of MBSs against imperfections, and their manifestation as a 4n-periodic effect in Josephson junction geometries, all suggesting the existence of a topological phase within experimental reach.