Topological Qubits (Majorana Fermions)
Majorana particles are a unique class of particles which are their own antiparticles. The quasi-particles emerge from the topological nature of systems and are bound at zero energy. They are predicted to obey non-abelian braiding statistics such that they can "remember" their histories. A pair of Majorana fermions represents a single qubit, and if realized could lead the way to fault-tolerant quantum computing.
Coupling a superconductor to a semiconductor results in a localized region where charge carriers feel the physics of both materials. A low dimensional semiconductor with large spin-orbit proximity coupled to an s-wave superconductor is predicted to result in a topological superconductor. This new class of material may lead to topological quantum computers. Our group designs superconductor-low dimensional semiconductor heterostructures, implements their growth by molecular beam epitaxy, and studies their electronic properties and transport in mesoscopic devices.
