Majorana fermions in a tunable semiconductor device
Open accessAbstract
The experimental realization of Majorana fermions presents an important problem due to their non-Abelian nature and potential exploitation for topological quantum computation. Very recently Sau et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 040502 (2010)] demonstrated that a topological superconducting phase supporting Majorana fermions can be realized using surprisingly conventional building blocks: a semiconductor quantum well coupled to an $s$-wave superconductor and a ferromagnetic insulator. Here we propose an alternative setup, wherein a topological superconducting phase is driven by applying an in-plane magnetic field to a (110)-grown semiconductor coupled only to an $s$-wave superconductor. This device offers a number of advantages, notably a simpler architecture and the ability to tune across a quantum phase transition into the topological superconducting state while still largely avoiding unwanted orbital effects. Experimental feasibility of both setups is discussed in some detail.
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There are analogous ways to create a Majorana fermion using strong spin-orbit quantum wells rather than topological insulators.
“There are analogous ways to create a Majorana fermion using strong spin-orbit quantum wells rather than topological insulators (96, 97, 98).”
From Three-Dimensional Topological Insulators (2011) · cites this paper as [98]
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- Authors
- Alicea, J.
- Affiliations
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Alicea, Jason
- ORCID
- Alicea, Jason
- Venue
- Physical Review B
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Published
- 2010-03-15
- Volume
- 81
- Issue
- 12
- ISSN
- 1098-0121 (ISSN-L)
- 1550-235X
- OpenAlex
- W2010878960
- Cited by
- 1,205
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 29 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 47 · 2022: 71 · 2021: 67 · 2020: 67 · 2019: 68 · 2018: 99 · 2017: 80 · 2016: 99 · 2015: 88 · 2014: 112 · 2013: 107 · 2012: 93
- FWCI
- 49.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Locations
- Physical Review B (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Topological Materials and Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Quantum and electron transport phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Condensed Matter Physics › Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism
- Keywords
- Majorana fermions, topological superconductivity, semiconductor quantum wells, s-wave superconductor, in-plane magnetic field, quantum phase transitions, topological quantum computation, non-Abelian anyons, ferromagnetic insulator
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