Signature of a pair of Majorana zero modes in superconducting gold surface states

TL;DR

This paper reports experimental evidence of Majorana zero modes in gold surface states, observed via tunneling conductance peaks, advancing potential quantum computing platforms.

Contribution

It introduces a new material platform using gold surface states to detect Majorana zero modes with clear experimental signatures.

Findings

Observation of two zero bias tunneling peaks aligned with magnetic field

Use of scanning tunneling microscopy on EuS-gold nanowires

Potential for complex device fabrication using lithography

Abstract

Under certain conditions, a fermion in a superconductor can separate in space into two parts known as Majorana zero modes, which are immune to decoherence from local noise sources and are attractive building blocks for quantum computers. Promising experimental progress has been made to demonstrate Majorana zero modes in materials with strong spin-orbit coupling proximity coupled to superconductors. Here we report signatures of Majorana zero modes in a new material platform utilizing the surface states of gold. Using scanning tunneling microscope to probe EuS islands grown on top of gold nanowires, we observe two well separated zero bias tunneling conductance peaks aligned along the direction of the applied magnetic field, as expected for a pair of Majorana zero modes. This platform has the advantage of having a robust energy scale and the possibility of realizing complex designs using lithographic methods.