Supercurrent in the quantum Hall regime

TL;DR

This paper reports the experimental observation of supercurrent in a quantum Hall system at high magnetic fields, advancing the pursuit of topological states and excitations relevant for quantum computing.

Contribution

It demonstrates a new type of supercurrent-carrying states in a quantum Hall regime, a significant step towards realizing topological excitations like Majorana fermions.

Findings

Supercurrent observed at magnetic fields up to 2 Tesla

First experimental evidence of supercurrent in quantum Hall regime

Progress towards topological quantum computation applications

Abstract

A novel promising route for creating topological states and excitations is to combine superconductivity and the quantum Hall (QH) effect. Despite this potential, signatures of superconductivity in the quantum Hall regime remain scarce, and a superconducting current through a QH weak link has so far eluded experimental observation. Here we demonstrate the existence of a new type of supercurrent-carrying states in a QH region at magnetic fields as high as 2Tesla. The observation of supercurrent in the quantum Hall regime marks an important step in the quest for exotic topological excitations such as Majorana fermions and parafermions, which may find applications in fault-tolerant quantum computations.