Evidence of topological superconductivity in planar Josephson junctions

Antonio Fornieri, Alexander M. Whiticar, F. Setiawan, Elías Portolés, Asbjørn C. C. Drachmann, Anna Keselman, Sergei Gronin, Candice Thomas, Tian Wang, Ray Kallaher, Geoffrey C. Gardner, Erez Berg, Michael J. Manfra, Ady Stern, Charles M. Marcus () and Fabrizio Nichele ()
Additional contact information
Antonio Fornieri: University of Copenhagen and Microsoft Quantum Lab Copenhagen
Alexander M. Whiticar: University of Copenhagen and Microsoft Quantum Lab Copenhagen
F. Setiawan: The University of Chicago
Elías Portolés: University of Copenhagen and Microsoft Quantum Lab Copenhagen
Asbjørn C. C. Drachmann: University of Copenhagen and Microsoft Quantum Lab Copenhagen
Anna Keselman: Station Q, Microsoft Research
Sergei Gronin: Purdue University
Candice Thomas: Purdue University
Tian Wang: Purdue University
Ray Kallaher: Purdue University
Geoffrey C. Gardner: Purdue University
Erez Berg: The University of Chicago
Michael J. Manfra: Purdue University
Ady Stern: Weizmann Institute of Science
Charles M. Marcus: University of Copenhagen and Microsoft Quantum Lab Copenhagen
Fabrizio Nichele: University of Copenhagen and Microsoft Quantum Lab Copenhagen

Nature, 2019, vol. 569, issue 7754, 89-92

Abstract: Abstract Majorana zero modes—quasiparticle states localized at the boundaries of topological superconductors—are expected to be ideal building blocks for fault-tolerant quantum computing1,2. Several observations of zero-bias conductance peaks measured by tunnelling spectroscopy above a critical magnetic field have been reported as experimental indications of Majorana zero modes in superconductor–semiconductor nanowires3–8. On the other hand, two-dimensional systems offer the alternative approach of confining Majorana channels within planar Josephson junctions, in which the phase difference φ between the superconducting leads represents an additional tuning knob that is predicted to drive the system into the topological phase at lower magnetic fields than for a system without phase bias9,10. Here we report the observation of phase-dependent zero-bias conductance peaks measured by tunnelling spectroscopy at the end of Josephson junctions realized on a heterostructure consisting of aluminium on indium arsenide. Biasing the junction to φ ≈ π reduces the critical field at which the zero-bias peak appears, with respect to φ = 0. The phase and magnetic-field dependence of the zero-energy states is consistent with a model of Majorana zero modes in finite-size Josephson junctions. As well as providing experimental evidence of phase-tuned topological superconductivity, our devices are compatible with superconducting quantum electrodynamics architectures11 and are scalable to the complex geometries needed for topological quantum computing9,12,13.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1068-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:569:y:2019:i:7754:d:10.1038_s41586-019-1068-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1068-8

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().