A road to reality with topological superconductors

TL;DR

This paper introduces topological superconductors, highlighting their potential to host Majorana fermions that could enable decoherence-resistant quantum computing, and provides a tutorial overview of the field.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive tutorial-style overview of topological superconductors and their significance in hosting Majorana fermions for quantum computing.

Findings

Majorana fermions are bound to defects or surfaces in topological superconductors.

Topological superconductors promise protection against decoherence in quantum information.

The paper serves as an introductory tutorial on topological matter and superconductivity.

Abstract

Topological states of matter are a source of low-energy quasiparticles, bound to a defect or propagating along the surface. In a superconductor these are Majorana fermions, described by a real rather than a complex wave function. The absence of complex phase factors promises protection against decoherence in quantum computations based on topological superconductivity. This is a tutorial style introduction written for a Nature Physics focus issue on topological matter.