Electrically detected interferometry of Majorana fermions in a topological insulator

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to electrically detect Majorana fermions on a topological insulator surface by converting Dirac fermions into Majorana pairs, facilitating interferometry crucial for topological quantum computing.

Contribution

It introduces a Dirac-Majorana converter that enables electrical detection of Majorana fermion interferometry on topological insulators, advancing quantum computation techniques.

Findings

Conversion of Dirac to Majorana fermions on topological insulator surfaces.

Electrical detection of Majorana interferometry achieved.

Potential applications in topological quantum computing.

Abstract

We show how a chiral Dirac fermion (a massless electron or hole) can be converted into a pair of neutral chiral Majorana fermions (a particle equal to its own antiparticle). These two types of fermions exist on the metallic surface of a topological insulator, respectively, at a magnetic domain wall and at a magnet-superconductor interface. Interferometry of Majorana fermions is a key operation in topological quantum computation, but the detection is problematic since these particles have no charge. The Dirac-Majorana converter enables electrical detection of the interferometric signal.