Qubits built out of Majorana zero modes (MZMs) have long been theorized as a potential pathway toward fault-tolerant topological quantum computation. Almost unavoidable in these processes is Majorana wavefunction overlap, known as hybridization, which arise throughout the process when Majorana modes get close to each other. This breaks the ground state degeneracy, leading to qubit errors in the braiding process. This work presents a simple but precise method to predict qubit errors for dynamic hybridization which varies in space and time. This includes hybridization between four or more MZMs through topological or trivial regions, or both of them. As an illustration, we characterize qubit-errors for an X-gate. We demonstrate how to utilize the hybridization to implement not only arbitrary one-qubit rotations but also a two-qubit controlled variable phase gate, providing a demonstration of universal quantum computing.
We study the low-energy transport properties of a hybrid device composed by a native quantum dot coupled to both ends of a topological superconducting nanowire section hosting Majorana zero-modes. The account of the coupling between the dot and the farthest Majorana zero-mode allows to introduce the topological quality factor, characterizing the level of topological protection in the system. We demonstrate that Coulomb interaction between the dot and the topological superconducting section leads to the onset of the additional overlap of the wavefunctions describing the Majorana zero-modes, lea…
In this paper we demonstrate under what conditions a pseudo-spin degree of freedom or character can be ascribed to the Majorana bound states (MBS) which can be created at the end of one dimensional non-interacting systems, corresponding to D, DIII and BDI in the usual classification scheme. We have found that such a character is directly related to the class of the topological superconductor and its description by a $\mathbb{Z}$, rather than a $\mathbb{Z}_2$, invariant which corresponds to the BDI class. We have also found that the DIII case with mirror symmetry, which supports multiple MBS, i…
Confinement at the helical edge of a topological insulator is possible in the presence of proximity-induced magnetic (F) or superconducting (S) order. The interplay of both phenomena leads to the formation of localized Majorana bound states (MBS) or likewise (under certain resonance conditions) the formation of ordinary Andreev bound states (ABS). We investigate the properties of bound states in junctions composed of alternating regions of F or S barriers. Interestingly, the direction of magnetization in F regions and the relative superconducting phase between S regions can be exploited to hyb…
We present a powerful and general approach to describe the coupling of Majorana fermions to external leads, of interacting or non-interacting electrons. Our picture has the Klein factors of bosonization appearing as extra Majoranas hybridizing with the physical ones. We demonstrate the power of this approach by solving a highly nontrivial SO(M) Kondo problem arising in topological superconductors with M Majorana-lead couplings, allowing for arbitrary M and for conduction electron interactions. We find that these topological Kondo problems give rise to robust non-Fermi liquid behavior, even for…
We discuss the thermoelectrical properties of nanowires hosting Majorana edge states. For a Majorana nanowire directly coupled to two normal reservoirs the thermopower always vanishes regardeless of the value of the Majorana hybridization. This situation changes drastically if we insert a quantum dot. Then, the dot Majorana side coupled system exhibits a different behavior for the thermopower depending on the Majorana hybridization parameter. Thermopower reverses its sign when the half fermionic state is fully developed. As long as the hybridization becomes finite the Seebeck coefficient behav…
We propose the manipulation of Majorana edge states via hybridization and spin currents in a nanowire spin transistor. The spin transistor is based on a heterostructure nanowire comprising of semiconductors with large and small g-factors that form the topological and non-topological regions respectively. The hybridization of bound edge states results in spin currents and $4π$-periodic torques, as a function of the relative magnetic field angle -- an effect which is dual to the fractional Josephson effect. We establish relation between torques and spin-currents in the non-topological region whe…
We propose a hierarchical architecture for building "logical" Majorana zero modes using "physical" Majorana zero modes at the Y-junctions of a hexagonal network of semiconductor nanowires. Each Y-junction contains three "physical" Majoranas, which hybridize when placed in close proximity, yielding a single effective Majorana mode near zero energy. The hybridization of effective Majorana modes on neighboring Y-junctions is controlled by applied gate voltages on the links of the honeycomb network. This gives rise to a tunable tight-binding model of effective Majorana modes. We show that selectin…
In the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling, magnetic field can drive a proximitized nanowire into a topological superconducting phase. We study transport properties of such nanowires in the Coulomb blockade regime. The associated with the topological superconductivity Majorana modes significantly modify transport and lead to single-electron coherent transmission through the nanowire - a non-local signature of topological superconductivity. In this work, we focus on the case of strong hybridization of the Majorana modes with the normal leads. The induced by hybridization broadening of the Ma…
One of the key features of the Majorana bound states emerging in topological superconducting (SC) wires is increasing oscillations of their energy under the growth of magnetic field or chemical potential due to concomitant enhancement of hybridization of the Majorana mode wave functions initially localized at the opposite edges of the structure. In this study we found that the other consequence of it is a shift of Aharonov-Bohm (AB) oscillations of linear-response conductance in an interference device where two ends of the SC wire connected with a normal contact via non-SC wires (arms). In add…
We analyze charging-energy-protected Majorana-based qubits, focusing on the residual dephasing that is present when the distance between Majorana zero modes (MZMs) is insufficient for full topological protection. We argue that the leading source of dephasing is $1/f$ charge noise. This noise affects the qubit as a result of the hybridization energy and charge distribution associated with weakly-overlapping MZMs, which we calculate using a charge-conserving formalism. We estimate the coherence time to be hundreds of nanoseconds for Majorana-based qubits whose MZM separation is $L\sim 5ξ$ (with …
We investigate the quantum electrodynamics of a device based on a topological superconducting circuit embedded in a microwave resonator. The device stores its quantum information in coherent superpositions of fermion parity states originating from Majorana fermion hybridization. This generates a highly isolated qubit whose coherence time could be greatly enhanced. We extend the conventional semiclassical method and obtain analytical derivations for strong transmon-photon coupling. Using this formalism, we develop protocols to initialize, control, and measure the parity states. We show that, re…
Recently, Majorana Fermions (MFs) have attracted intensive attention due to their exotic statistics and possible applications in topological quantum computation (TQC). They are proposed to exist in various two-dimensional (2D) topological systems, such as px+ipy topological superconductor and nanowire-superconducting hybridization system. In this paper, two types of Majorana Fermions with different polygon sign rules are pointed out. A "smoking gun" numerical evidence to identify MF's classification is presented through looking for the signature of a first order topological quantum phase trans…
Fracton topological phases host fractionalized topological quasiparticles with restricted mobility, with promising applications to fault-tolerant quantum computation. While a variety of exactly solvable fracton models have been proposed, there is a need for platforms to realize them experimentally. We show that a rich set of fracton phases emerges in interacting Majorana band models whose building blocks are within experimental reach. Specifically, our Majorana constructions overcome a principal obstacle, namely the implementation of the complicated spin cluster interactions underlying fracton…
Isolated Majorana fermion states can be produced at the boundary of a topological superconductor in a quasi-one-dimensional geometry. If such a superconductor is connected to a disordered quantum wire, the Majorana fermion is spread into the wire, subject to Anderson localization. We study this effect in the limit of a thick wire with broken time-reversal and spin-rotational symmetries. With the use of a supersymmetric nonlinear sigma model, we calculate the average local density of states in the wire as a function of energy and of the distance from the interface with the superconductor. Our r…
Hybrid nanowires combining semiconductor and superconductor materials appear well suited for the creation, detection, and control of Majorana bound states (MBSs). We demonstrate the emergence of MBSs from coalescing Andreev bound states (ABSs) in a hybrid InAs nanowire with epitaxial Al, using a quantum dot at the end of the nanowire as a spectrometer. Electrostatic gating tuned the nanowire density to a regime of one or a few ABSs. In an applied axial magnetic field, a topological phase emerges in which ABSs move to zero energy and remain there, forming MBSs. We observed hybridization of the …
We investigate the dynamics of a charge qubit consisting of two Coulomb-blockaded islands hosting Majorana zero modes. The frequency of the qubit is determined by coherent single-electron tunneling between two islands originating from the hybridization of two Majorana zero modes localized at the junction. We calculate the sequential tunneling current $I$ through the double-island device coupled to normal metal leads. We demonstrate that the $I\!-\!V$ characteristics in the large-bias regime can be used as a measurement of the coherent Majorana coupling $E_M$. We propose dc and ac transport exp…
We study the properties of one-dimensional topological superconductors under the influence of generic boundary conditions mimicking the coupling with external environments. We identify a general four-parameters classification of the boundary effects and show that particle-hole and reflection symmetries can be broken or preserved by appropriately fixing the boundary parameters. When the particle-hole symmetry is broken, the topological protection of the edge modes is lost due to the hybridization with the external degrees of freedom (quasiparticle poisoning). We assess the robustness of the edg…
Avenues of Majorana bound states (MBSs) have become one of the primary directions towards a possible realization of topological quantum computation. For a Y-junction of Kitaev quantum wires, we numerically investigate the braiding of MBSs while considering the full quasi-particle background. The two central sources of braiding errors are found to be the fidelity loss due to the incomplete adiabaticity of the braiding operation as well as the hybridization of the MBS. The explicit extraction of the braiding phase in the low-energy Majorana sector from the full many-particle Hilbert space allows…
We study a chain of magnetic impurities on a conventional superconductor with spin-orbit coupling, treating the superconducting order fully self-consistently. We find and quantify strong hybridization between the topological edge Majorana bound states (MBSs) and in-gap Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) states, which causes increasing energy oscillations as a function of magnetic impurity strength, even when the direct MBS overlap is negligible. By treating the MBS as a topological boundary state, dependent only on the effective mass gap, we arrive at a fully parameter-free functional form of the its loca…
Spatial separation of Majorana zero modes distinguishes trivial from topological midgap states and is key to topological protection in quantum computing applications. Although signatures of Majorana zero modes in tunneling spectroscopy have been reported in numerous studies, a quantitative measure of the degree of separation, or nonlocality, of the emergent zero modes has not been reported. Here, we present results of an experimental study of nonlocality of emergent zero modes in superconductor-semiconductor hybrid nanowire devices. The approach takes advantage of recent theory showing that no…
A semiconducting nanowire proximitized by an $s$-wave superconductor can be tuned into a topological state by an applied magnetic field. This quantum phase transition is marked by the emergence of Majorana zero modes at the ends of the wire. The fusion of Majorana modes at a junction between two nanowires results in a $4π$-periodic Josephson effect. We elucidate how the $4π$-periodicity arises across the topological phase transition in a highly-transparent short nanowire junction. Owing to a high transmission coefficient, Majorana zero modes coming from different wires are strongly coupled, wi…
Recent experiments announced an observation of topological superconductivity and Majorana quasiparticles in Shiba chains, consisting of an array of magnetic atoms deposited on top of a superconductor. In this work we study helical Shiba chains and generalize the microscopic theory of subgap energy bands to a regime where the decoupled magnetic impurity energy and the hybridization of different impurity states can be significant compared to the superconducting gap of the host material. From exact solutions of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation we extract expressions for the topological phase bou…
We study a series of dynamical protocols which involve periodically driving a quantum dot coupled to a putative nanowire hosting Majorana zero modes (MZMs) to i) reduce the hybridization between MZMs, ii) improve the coherence of the Majorana qubit with respect to $1/f$ dephasing noise and quasiparticle poisoning, and iii) provide a definitive test to differentiate Andreev Bound states (ABSs) from MZMs. The protocols are based on the notion of $draiding$ - exchanging a pair of Majoranas twice, repeatedly, at high frequency [1]. In this process, the exchanged Majorana operators acquire a robust…
Majorana zero modes are quasiparticle excitations in condensed matter systems that have been proposed as building blocks of fault-tolerant quantum computers [1]. They are expected to exhibit non-Abelian particle statistics, in contrast to the usual statistics of fermions and bosons, enabling quantum operations to be performed by braiding isolated modes around one another. Quantum braiding operations are topologically protected insofar as these modes are pinned near zero energy, and the pinning is predicted to be exponential as the modes become spatially separated. Following theoretical proposa…
Schemes for topological quantum computation with Majorana bound states rely heavily on the ability to measure products of Majorana operators projectively. Here, we employ Markovian quantum measurement theory, including the readout device, to analyze such measurements. Specifically, we focus on the readout of Majorana qubits via continuous charge sensing of a tunnel-coupled quantum dot by a quantum point contact. We show that projective measurements of Majorana products $\prod_i\hatγ_i$ can be implemented by continuous charge sensing under quite general circumstances. Essential requirements are…
If superconductivity is induced in the metallic surface states of topological insulators via proximity, Majorana modes will be trapped on the vortex cores. The same effects hold for doped topological insulators which become bulk s-wave superconductors as long as the doping does not exceed a critical values $ μ^{\pm}_c.$ It is this critical chemical potential at which the material forgets it arose from a band-inverted topological insulator; it loses its topological \emph{imprint.} For the most common classes of topological insulators, which can be modeled with a minimal 4-band Dirac model the v…
We consider a model of a Josephson junction of two topological superconducting wires mediated by an interacting quantum dot. An additional normal electrode coupled to the dot from the top allows to probe its density of states. The Majorana states adjacent to the dot hybridize across the junction and from a bound state in the dot. The dot is subjected to the effective magnetic field arising from the superposition of the fields driving each wire into topological states, which, dependent on the angle between the fields, introduces variable Zeeman splitting of the dot active level. We show that el…
We study the spin and charge currents flowing at the interface of an itinerant ferromagnet with a topological spin-triplet superconductor having different number of time-reversal-invariant Majorana helical modes. Depending on the number of helical modes, the capacity of carrying spin and charge currents is shown to be directly related to the amplitude and orientation of the ferromagnetic magnetization with respect to the superconducting $\vec{d}$-vector. Differently from the one-helical mode spin-triplet superconductor, we find that the presence of a finite amount of electronic hybridization w…
Half-integer conductance, the signature of Majorana edge modes, has been recently observed in a quantum anomalous Hall insulator/superconductor heterostructure. Here, we analyze a scheme for gate-tunable control of degenerate ground states of Majorana zero modes (MZM) in thin film topological superconductors. Gating the top surface of a thin film magnetic topological insulator controls the topological phase in the region underneath the gate. The voltage of the transition depends on the gate width, and narrower gates require larger voltages. Relatively long gates are required, on the order of a…
We show how Floquet Majorana fermions may be experimentally realized by periodic driving of a solid-state platform. The system comprises a planar Josephson junction made of a proximitized heterostructure containing a 2D electron gas (2DEG) with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman field. We map the sub-gap Andreev bound states of the junction to an effective one-dimensional Kitaev model with long range hopping and pairing terms. Using this effective model, we study the response of the system to periodic driving of the chemical potential, as applied via microwaves through a top-gate. We use th…
We analyze theoretically two different setups for s-wave superconductivity (SC) proximitized $j=3/2$ particles in Luttinger materials that are able to host Majorana bound states (MBSs). First, we consider a one-dimensional SC wire with intrinsic bulk inversion asymmetry (BIA). In contrast to wires, modeled by a quadratic dispersion with Rashba spin-orbit coupling, there are two topological phase transitions in our systems at finite magnetic fields. Second, we analyze a two-dimensional Josephson junction on the Luttinger model finding a topological region even in the absence of BIA and Rashba s…
We study the dynamics and readout of topological qubits encoded by zero-energy Majorana bound states in a topological superconductor. We take into account bosonic modes due to the electromagnetic environment which couple the Majorana manifold to above-gap continuum quasi-particles. This coupling causes the degenerate ground state of the topological superconductor to be dressed in a polaron-like manner by quasi-particle states and bosons, and the system to become gapless. Topological protection and hence full coherence is only maintained if the qubit is operated and read out within the low-ener…
A vortex in an s-wave superconductor with a surface Dirac cone can trap a Majorana bound state with zero energy leading to a zero-bias peak (ZBP) of tunneling conductance. The iron-based superconductor FeTe$_x$Se$_{1-x}$ is one of the material candidates hosting these Majorana vortex modes. It has been observed by recent scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurement that the fraction of vortex cores possessing ZBPs decreases with increasing magnetic field on the surface of this iron-based superconductor. We construct a three-dimensional tight-binding model simulating the physics of over a hundre…
As part of the intense effort towards identifying platforms in which Majorana bound states can be realized and manipulated to perform qubit operations, we propose a topological Josephson junction architecture that achieves these capabilities and which can be experimentally implemented. The platform uses conventional superconducting electrodes deposited on a topological insulator film to form networks of proximity-coupled lateral Josephson junctions. Magnetic fields threading the network of junction barriers create Josephson vortices that host Majorana bound states localized in the junction whe…
Magnetic adatom chains on surfaces constitute fascinating quantum spin systems. Superconducting substrates suppress interactions with bulk electronic excitations but couple the adatom spins to a chain of subgap Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) quasiparticles. Using a scanning tunneling microscope, we investigate such correlated spin-fermion systems by constructing Fe chains adatom by adatom on superconducting NbSe$_2$. The adatoms couple entirely via the substrate, retaining their quantum spin nature. In dimers, we observe that the deepest YSR state undergoes a quantum phase transition due to Ruderman-K…
Double Majorana Vortex Flat Bands in the Topological Dirac Superconductor
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology（香港科技大学）；Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院物理研究所）；School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学物理科学学院）；School of Physics, Beijing Institute of Technology（北京理工大学物理学院）；Nanjing University（南京大学）；CAS Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院理论物理研究所）
Confinement-induced Majorana modes in a nodal topological superconductor
Università degli studi di Genova（热那亚大学）；SPIN-CNR, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerca（意大利国家研究委员会自旋物理中心）；University of Würzburg（维尔茨堡大学）；Technische Universität Braunschweig（布伦瑞克工业大学）
We investigate transport properties through a crossbar-shaped structure formed by a quantum dot (QD) coupled to two normal leads and embedded between two one-dimensional topological superconductors (TSCs). Each TSC hosts Majorana bound states (MBSs) at its ends, which can interact between them with an effective coupling strength. We find a signature of bound states in continuum (BIC) in the MBSs spectral function. By allowing finite inter MBSs coupling, BICs splitting is observed and shows projection in transmission for asymmetric coupling case as cuasi-BICs. As a consequence, we also show tha…
Braiding Majorana zero modes (MZMs) is the key procedure toward topological quantum computation. We show such braiding can be well performed in a parallel semiconductor-superconductor nanowire structure. Considering the fact that the low-energy Andreev bound states (ABSs) usually mix with the MZMs in the present set-up, we further investigate the braiding properties of MZMs when an ABS is presented. Our numerical simulation suggests that ABS can be regarded as a pair of weakly coupled MZMs. The dynamical hybridization of MZMs plus the non-Abelian braiding of MZMs would induce an arbitrary rota…
We study Majorana modes and transport in one-dimensional systems with a $p$-wave superconductor (SC) and normal metal leads. For a system with a SC lying between two leads, it is known that there is a Majorana mode at the junction between the SC and each lead. If the $p$-wave pairing $Δ$ changes sign or if a strong impurity is present at some point inside the SC, two additional Majorana modes appear near that point. We study the effect of all these modes on the sub-gap conductance between the leads and the SC. We derive an analytical expression as a function of $Δ$ and the length $L$ of the SC…
The Majorana resonant level model (MRLM) describes the universality class of the two-channel/terminal Kondo model at the Toulouse point as well as of a resonant level between two half-infinite Tomonaga--Luttinger liquids. We analyze the time evolution of the electric current and of the population function after an instantaneous switching on of the tunneling coupling. We find that the only timescale, which governs the relaxation of the initial dot preparation is the inverse contact transparency $Γ$, whatever the dot offset energy $Δ$, applied bias voltage or temperature. The voltage alone deter…
