Two-dimensional epitaxial superconductor-semiconductor heterostructures: A platform for topological superconducting networks

By J. Shabani, Morten Kjaergaard, H. Suominen, Younghyun Kim, F. Nichele, K. Pakrouski, T. Stankevič, R. Lutchyn, P. Krogstrup, R. Feidenhans'l and 5 more. 2015

267 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Progress in the emergent field of topological superconductivity relies on synthesis of new material combinations, combining superconductivity, low density, and spin-orbit coupling (SOC). For example, theory [1-4] indicates that the interface between a one-dimensional (1D) semiconductor (Sm) with strong SOC and a superconductor (S) hosts Majorana modes with nontrivial topological properties [5-8]. Recently, epitaxial growth of Al on InAs nanowires was shown to yield a high quality S-Sm system with uniformly transparent interfaces [9] and a hard induced gap, indicted by strongly suppressed sub gap tunneling conductance [10]. Here we report the realization of a two-dimensional (2D) InAs/InGaAs heterostructure with epitaxial Al, yielding a planar S-Sm system with structural and transport characteristics as good as the epitaxial wires. The realization of 2D epitaxial S-Sm systems represent a significant advance over wires, allowing extended networks via top-down processing. Among numerous potential applications, this new material system can serve as a platform for complex networks of topological superconductors with gate-controlled Majorana zero modes [1-4]. We demonstrate gateable Josephson junctions and a highly transparent 2D S-Sm interface based on the product of excess current and normal state resistance.

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Condensed Matter Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cdcf45fafcebba388fb848b13673e3b413d339f1

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In Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

In Condensed Matter Physics

Citations in the corpus

Majorana zero modes in superconductor–semiconductor heterostructures (2017, methodology): “Panel e is adapted with permission from reF.(84), American Physical”
Scalable designs for quasiparticle-poisoning-protected topological quantum computation with Majorana zero modes (2016, background): “The combination of material science progress [29, 30], device quality and controllability [20, 31], and theoretical advances involving semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures [32–36] provides a pathway for topological quantum computation with semiconductor nanowires.”