Majorana quasiparticles in condensed matter

TL;DR

This review discusses recent advances in the search for Majorana quasiparticles in condensed matter, emphasizing artificial one-dimensional topological superconductors and summarizing key experimental progress.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of experimental developments and technical approaches in realizing Majorana quasiparticles in condensed matter systems.

Findings

Successful creation of ballistic InSb nanowire devices

Development of epitaxial Al-InAs nanowires and Majorana boxes

Recent high-frequency experiments with quantum spin Hall insulators

Abstract

In the space of less than one decade, the search for Majorana quasiparticles in condensed matter has become one of the hottest topics in physics. The aim of this review is to provide a brief perspective of where we are with strong focus on artificial implementations of one-dimensional topological superconductivity. After a self-contained introduction and some technical parts, an overview of the current experimental status is given and some of the most successful experiments of the last few years are discussed in detail. These include the novel generation of ballistic InSb nanowire devices, epitaxial Al-InAs nanowires and Majorana boxes, high frequency experiments with proximitized quantum spin Hall insulators realised in HgTe quantum wells and recent experiments on ferromagnetic atomic chains on top of superconducting surfaces.