Phys.org April 24, 2019
A theory developed only two years ago proposed a way to make qubits more resilient through combining a semiconductor, indium arsenide, with a superconductor, aluminum, into a planar device. An international team of researchers (Denmark, USA – University of Chicago, Purdue University, Israel) has provided experimental support to the theory in a device that could also aid the scaling of qubits. These experiments provide evidence that aluminum and indium arsenide, when brought together to form a device called a Josephson junction, can support Majorana zero modes, which scientists have predicted possess topological protection against decoherence. The device isn’t operating as a qubit yet, but their work shows that it has the right ingredients to be a scalable technology…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE 1 , 2
A study demonstrates that a combination of two materials, aluminum and indium arsenide, forming a device called a Josephson junction could make quantum bits more resilient. Credit: University of Copenhagen image/Antonio Fornieri