A generic new platform for topological quantum computation using semiconductor heterostructures

TL;DR

This paper proposes a semiconductor heterostructure platform supporting Majorana fermions, enabling topological quantum computation through induced superconductivity, Zeeman splitting, and spin-orbit coupling in a thin film system.

Contribution

It introduces a generic heterostructure design with semiconductor, superconductor, and magnetic insulator layers to realize Majorana modes for quantum computing.

Findings

Supports zero-energy Majorana modes in vortex excitations

Edge acts as a chiral Majorana wire

Platform is suitable for topological quantum computation

Abstract

We show that a film of a semiconductor such as GaAs, in which s-wave superconductivity and a Zeeman splitting are induced by proximity effect, supports zero-energy Majorana fermion modes in the ordinary vortex excitations. The key to the topological order is the existence of spin-orbit coupling, coexisting with proximity-induced s-wave superconductivity. Since time reversal symmetry is explicitly broken, the edge of the film constitutes a chiral Majorana wire. The heterostructure we propose -- a semiconducting thin film sandwiched between an s-wave superconductor and a magnetic insulator -- is a generic system which can be used as the platform for topological quantum computation by virtue of the existence of non-Abelian Majorana fermions.