Chiral Majorana edge state in a quantum anomalous Hall insulator-superconductor structure

TL;DR

This paper experimentally demonstrates chiral Majorana edge states in a quantum anomalous Hall insulator-superconductor structure, showing quantized conductance signatures indicative of Majorana fermions, advancing topological quantum computing research.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental evidence of chiral Majorana edge modes in a quantum anomalous Hall insulator-superconductor system through conductance measurements.

Findings

Observation of a half-integer quantized conductance plateau (0.5e2/h).

Reproducibility of the conductance signature over multiple magnetic reversals.

Detection of Majorana modes at different temperatures.

Abstract

After the recognition of the possibility to implement Majorana fermions using the building blocks of solid-state matters, the detection of this peculiar particle has been an intense focus of research. Here we experimentally demonstrate a collection of Majorana fermions living in a one-dimensional transport channel at the boundary of a superconducting quantum anomalous Hall insulator thin film. A series of topological phase changes are controlled by the reversal of the magnetization, where a half-integer quantized conductance plateau (0.5e2/h) is observed as a clear signature of the Majorana phase. This transport signature can be well repeated during many magnetic reversal sweeps, and can be tracked at different temperatures, providing a promising evidence of the chiral Majorana edge modes in the system.