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Majorana zero mode in the vortex of an artificial topological superconductor

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Abstract

Majorana fermion (MF), an exotic particle that is identical to its own antiparticle, was recently found in solid matter as a quasiparticle excitation, the Majorana zero mode (MZM), in the vortex of an artificial topological superconductor (TSC). This artificial TSC, first proposed by Fu and Kane in 2008, is a heterostructure made of a topological insulator Bi2Te3 and an s-wave superconductor NbSe2. This paper will briefly review the experimental progresses based on the Bi2Te3/NbSe2 heterostructure. All evidences are self-consistent and reveal that the MZM exists in the center of vortex. Those experimental results are also supported by theory. This finding is a milestone in the research of Majorana fermions in solid state physics and a starting point of MZM’s application in topological quantum computation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Artificial Structures and Quantum Control (Ministry of Education), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Hao-Hua Sun & Jin-Feng Jia

  2. Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Hao-Hua Sun & Jin-Feng Jia

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  1. Hao-Hua Sun
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  2. Jin-Feng Jia
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Correspondence to Jin-Feng Jia.

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Sun, HH., Jia, JF. Majorana zero mode in the vortex of an artificial topological superconductor. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 60, 057401 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-017-9011-7

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