Eurekalert May 10, 2019
Majorana particles can emerge as quasi-particles in topological superconductors and represent ideal building blocks for topological quantum computers. Whereas previous experiments in this field have mostly focused on one-dimensional systems an international team of researchers (USA – Harvard University, Caltech, IBM Watson Research Laboratory, Germany) succeeded in going to two-dimensional systems. They observed a topological phase transition in their proof of concept system which implies the appearance of Majorana fermions in phase-controlled Josephson junctions confirming the advantages of two-dimensional system compared to previous one-dimensional platforms. An improved control of Majorana fermions represents an important step towards topological quantum computers…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
A normal conducting two-dimensional electron gas sandwiched between two superconductors S (grey). If an in-plane magnetic field is applied, Majorana fermions are expected to appear at the ends of the normal region. Credit: Ewelina Hankiewicz