Majorana modes in solid state systems and its dynamics

We review the properties of Majorana fermions in particle physics and point out that Majorana modes in solid state systems are significantly different. The key reason is the concept of anti-particle in solid state systems is different from its counterpart in particle physics. We define Majorana modes as the eigenstates of Majorana operators and find that they can exist both at edges and in the bulk. According to our definition, only one single Majorana mode can exist in a system no matter at edges or in the bulk. Kitaev’s spinless p-wave superconductor is used to illustrate our results and the dynamical behavior of the Majorana modes.     

Existence of Majorana fermions and topological order in nodal superconductors with spin-orbit interactions in external magnetic fields

We demonstrate that Majorana fermions exist in edges of systems and in a vortex core even for superconductors with nodal excitations such as the d-wave pairing state under a particular but realistic condition in the case with an antisymmetric spin-orbit interaction and a nonzero magnetic field below the upper critical field. We clarify that the Majorana fermion state is topologically protected in spite of the presence of bulk gapless nodal excitations, because of the existence of a nontrivial topological number. Our finding drastically enlarges target systems where we can explore the Majorana fermion state.     

Realizing Majorana fermion modes in the Kitaev model

We study the possibility to realize a Majorana zero mode that is robust and may be easily manipulated for braiding in quantum computing in the ground state of the Kitaev model in this work. To achieve this we first apply a uniform [111] magnetic field to the gapless Kitaev model and turn the Kitaev model to an effective p+ip topological superconductor of spinons. We then study possible vortex binding in such system to a topologically trivial spot in the ground state. We consider two cases in the system: one is a vacancy and the other is a fully polarized spin. We show that in both cases, the system binds a vortex with the defect and a robust Majorana zero mode in the ground state at a weak uniform [111] magnetic field. The distribution and asymptotic behavior of these Majorana zero modes are studied. The Majorana zero modes in both cases decay exponentially in space, and are robust against local perturbations and other Majorana zero modes far away, which makes them promising candidates for braiding in topological quantum computing.     

Avoidance of Majorana resonances in periodic topological superconductor-nanowire structures

Semiconducting nanowires in proximity to superconductors are promising experimental systems for Majorana fermions which may ultimately be used as building blocks for topological quantum computers. A serious challenge in the experimental realization of the Majorana fermion in these semiconductor-superconductor-nanowire structures is tuning the semiconductor chemical potential in close proximity to the metallic superconductor. We show that presently realizable structures in experiments with tunable chemical potential lead to Majorana resonances, which are interesting in their own right, but do not manifest non-Abelian statistics. To resolve this crucial barrier to the solid state realization of Majorana fermions, we propose a new topological superconducting array structure where introducing the superconducting proximity effect from adjacent nanowires generates Majorana fermions with non-Abelian statistics.     

电子型FeSe基高温超导体的磁通束缚态与Majorana零能模

作为凝聚态物理中一类新奇准粒子态,Majorana零能模(Majorana zero mode)由于可用来实现拓扑量子计算而成为当前的研究热点.理论预言,Majorana零能模可作为特殊的束缚态出现在一些拓扑超导体的磁通涡旋中.但实际超导体磁通中还可能存在其他低能束缚态或杂质态,这给Majorana零能模的辨别和具体应用带来了困难.目前实验上寻找合适的拓扑超导体系、分辨出清晰的Majorana零能模仍然是十分迫切的.本文主要介绍最近利用高能量分辨的扫描隧道显微镜,对电子掺杂铁硒类超导体(Li,Fe)OHFeSe和单层FeSe/SrTiO3磁通态进行的研究.实验上在前者的自由磁通中观测到清晰的零能模,并进一步测量到Majorana零能模的重要特征—量子化电导.而在后者磁通中只发现常规Caroli-de Gennes-Matricon(CdGM)束缚态,反映出s波对称性的特征.这系列实验既为Majorana零能模物性的进一步研究提供了合适平台,也为澄清铁基超导体中拓扑超导电性的来源提供了线索.     

Superconducting proximity effect and majorana fermions at the surface of a topological insulator

We study the proximity effect between an s-wave superconductor and the surface states of a strong topological insulator. The resulting two-dimensional state resembles a spinless px+ipy superconductor, but does not break time reversal symmetry. This state supports Majorana bound states at vortices. We show that linear junctions between superconductors mediated by the topological insulator form a nonchiral one-dimensional wire for Majorana fermions, and that circuits formed from these junctions provide a method for creating, manipulating, and fusing Majorana bound states.     

Experimental review on Majorana zero-modes in hybrid nanowires

As the condensed matter analog of Majorana fermion, the Majorana zero-mode is well known as a building block of fault-tolerant topological quantum computing. This review focuses on the recent progress of Majorana experiments, especially experiments about semiconductor-superconductor hybrid devices. We first sketch Majorana zero-mode formation from a bottom-up view,which is more suitable for beginners and experimentalists. Then, we survey the status of zero-energy state signatures reported recently, from zero-energy conductance peaks, the oscillations, the quantization, and the interactions with extra degrees of freedom. We also give prospects of future experiments for advancing one-dimensional semiconductor nanowire-superconductor hybrid materials and devices.     

Proposal for direct measuring of the Majorana number in a topological superconductor using a quantum dot

We propose to directly measure the Majorana number for one-dimensional topological superconductors using a quantum dot. The setup consists of two topological superconducting wires with four Majorana zero modes, which are coupled to an external quantum dot. The measurement is achieved by utilizing the definition of the Majorana number, which is the charge-parity flipping when changing the boundary condition for the topological superconductor. We consider a control of the boundary condition with voltage gates. When the voltage on the gate are modulated sequentially, the boundary conditions changes and the parity of the superconducting state flips. We demonstrate that this parity flipping will change the electron occupation probability of the quantum dot, which reflects the value of the Majorana number.     

Quantum computation using vortices and majorana zero modes of a px + ipy superfluid of fermionic cold atoms

We propose to use the recently predicted two-dimensional "weak-pairing" px + ipy superfluid state of fermionic cold atoms as a platform for topological quantum computation. In the core of a vortex, this state supports a zero-energy Majorana mode, which moves to finite energy in the corresponding topologically trivial "strong-pairing" state. By braiding vortices in the "weak-pairing" state, unitary quantum gates can be applied to the Hilbert space of Majorana zero modes. For readout of the topological qubits, we propose realistic schemes suitable for atomic superfluids.     

Majorana and the Quasi-Stationary States in Nuclear Physics

A complete theoretical model describing artificial disintegration of nuclei by bombardment with α-particles, developed by Majorana as early as 1930, is discussed in detail jointly with the basic experimental evidences that motivated it. By following the quantum dynamics of a state resulting from the superposition of a discrete state with a continuum one, whose interaction is described by a given potential term, Majorana obtained (among the other predictions) the explicit expression for the integrated cross section of the nuclear process, which is the directly measurable quantity of interest in the experiments. Although this is the first application of the concept of quasi-stationary states to a Nuclear Physics problem, it seems also that the unpublished Majorana work anticipates by several years the related seminal paper by Fano on Atomic Physics.     

Majorana零模式的电导与低压振荡散粒噪声

Majorana零能量模式是自身的反粒子,在拓扑量子计算中有重要应用.本文研究量子点与拓扑超导纳米线混合结构,通过量子点的输运电荷检测Majorana零模式.利用量子主方程方法,发现有无Majorana零模式的电流与散粒噪声存在明显差别.零模式导致稳态电流差呈反对称,在零偏压处显示反常电导峰.电流差随零模式分裂能的增大而减小,随量子点与零模式耦合的增强而增大.另一方面,零模式导致低压散粒噪声相干振荡,零频噪声显著增强.分裂能导致相干振荡愈加明显且零频噪声减小,而量子点与零模式的耦合使零频噪声增强.当量子点与电极非对称耦合时,零模式使电子由反聚束到聚束输运,亚泊松噪声增强为超泊松噪声.稳态电流差结合低压振荡的散粒噪声能够揭示Majorana零模式是否存在.     

Effects of Majorana bound states on dissipation and charging in a quantum resistor-capacitor circuit

We investigate the effects of Majorana bound states on the ac response of a quantum resistor-capacitor circuit which is composed of a topological superconducting wire whose two ends are tunnel-coupled to a lead and a spinless quantum dot, respectively. The Majorana states formed at the two ends of the wire are found to suppress completely or enhance greatly the dissipation, depending on the strength of the overlap between two Majorana modes and/or the dot level. We compare the relaxation resistance and the quantum capacitance of the system with those of non-Majorana counterparts to find that the effects of the Majorana state on the ac response are genuine and cannot be reproduced in ordinary fermionic systems.     

Chain of Majorana states from superconducting Dirac fermions at a magnetic domain wall

We study theoretically a strongly type-II s-wave superconducting state of two-dimensional Dirac fermions in proximity to a ferromagnet having in-plane magnetization. It is shown that a magnetic domain wall can host a chain of equally spaced vortices in the superconducting order parameter, each of which binds a Majorana-fermion state. The overlap integral of neighboring Majorana states is sensitive to the position of the chemical potential of the Dirac fermions. Thermal transport and scanning tunneling microscopy experiments to probe the Majorana fermions are discussed.     

Magnetic flux control of chiral Majorana edge modes in topological superconductor

We study the transport of chiral Majorana edge modes (CMEMs) in a hybrid quantum anomalous Hall insulator-topological superconductor (QAHI-TSC) system in which the TSC region contains a Josephson junction and a cavity. The Josephson junction undergoes a topological transition when the magnetic flux through the cavity passes through half-integer multiples of magnetic flux quantum. For the trivial phase, the CMEMs transmit along the QAHI-TSC interface as without magnetic flux. However, for the nontrivial phase, a zero-energy Majorana state appears in the cavity, leading to that a CMEM can resonantly tunnel through the Majorana state to a different CMEM. These findings may provide a feasible scheme to control the transport of CMEMs by using the magnetic flux and the transport pattern can be customized by setting the size of the TSC.     

Topological Superconductivity in Cu(x)Bi(2)Se(3)

A topological superconductor (TSC) is characterized by the topologically protected gapless surface state that is essentially an Andreev bound state consisting of Majorana fermions. While a TSC has not yet been discovered, the doped topological insulator Cu(x)Bi(2)Se(3), which superconducts below ～3 K, has been predicted to possess a topological superconducting state. We report that the point-contact spectra on the cleaved surface of superconducting Cu(x)Bi(2)Se(3) present a zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) which signifies unconventional superconductivity. Theoretical considerations of all possible superconducting states help us conclude that this ZBCP is due to Majorana fermions and gives evidence for a topological superconductivity in Cu(x)Bi(2)Se(3). In addition, we found an unusual pseudogap that develops below ～20 K and coexists with the topological superconducting state.     

Majorana modes at the ends of superconductor vortices in doped topological insulators

Recent experiments have observed bulk superconductivity in doped topological insulators. Here we ask whether vortex Majorana zero modes, previously predicted to occur when s-wave superconductivity is induced on the surface of topological insulators, survive in these doped systems with metallic normal states. Assuming inversion symmetry, we find that they do but only below a critical doping. The critical doping is tied to a topological phase transition of the vortex line, at which it supports gapless excitations along its length. The critical point depends only on the vortex orientation and a suitably defined SU(2) Berry phase of the normal state Fermi surface. By calculating this phase for available band structures we determine that superconducting p-doped Bi(2)Te(3), among others, supports vortex end Majorana modes. Surprisingly, superconductors derived from topologically trivial band structures can support Majorana modes too.     

Search for Majorana fermions in multiband semiconducting nanowires

We study multiband semiconducting nanowires proximity-coupled with an s-wave superconductor. We show that, when an odd number of subbands are occupied, the system realizes a nontrivial topological state supporting Majorana modes. We study the topological quantum phase transition in this system and calculate the phase diagram as a function of the chemical potential and magnetic field. Our key finding is that multiband occupancy not only lifts the stringent constraint of one-dimensionality but also allows one to have higher carrier density in the nanowire, and as such multisubband nanowires are better suited for observing the Majorana particle. We study the robustness of the topological phase by including the effects of the short- and long-range disorder. We show that there is an optimal regime in the phase diagram ("sweet spot") where the topological state is to a large extent insensitive to the presence of disorder.     

Entanglement in the symmetric sector of n qubits

We discuss the entanglement properties of symmetric states of n qubits. The Majorana representation maps a generic such state into a system of n points on a sphere. Entanglement invariants, either under local unitaries (LU) or stochastic local operations and classical communication (SLOCC), can then be addressed in terms of the relative positions of the Majorana points. In the LU case, an overcomplete set of invariants can be built from the inner product of the radial vectors pointing to these points; this is detailed for the well-documented three-qubits case. In the SLOCC case, a cross ratio of related M?bius transformations are shown to play a central role, exemplified here for four qubits. Finally, as a side result, we also analyze the manifold of maximally entangled 3 qubit state, both in the symmetric and generic case.     

Topological insulator: Spintronics and quantum computations

Topological insulators are emergent states of quantum matter that are gapped in the bulk with timereversal symmetry-preserved gapless edge/surface states, adiabatically distinct from conventional materials. By proximity to various magnets and superconductors, topological insulators show novel physics at the interfaces, which give rise to two new areas named topological spintronics and topological quantum computation. Effects in the former such as the spin torques, spin-charge conversion, topological antiferromagnetic spintronics, and skyrmions realized in topological systems will be addressed. In the latter, a superconducting pairing gap leads to a state that supports Majorana fermions states, which may provide a new path for realizing topological quantum computation. Various signatures of Majorana zero modes/edge mode in topological superconductors will be discussed. The review ends by outlooks and potential applications of topological insulators. Topological superconductors that are fabricated using topological insulators with superconductors have a full pairing gap in the bulk and gapless surface states consisting of Majorana fermions. The theory of topological superconductors is reviewed, in close analogy to the theory of topological insulators.