Localized Majorana zero modes (MZMs) are non-Abelian quasiparticles that emerge at the ends of one-dimensional topological superconductors. MZMs are promised to be a building block of fault-tolerant quantum computation. To date, a variety of condensed matter systems is proposed and studied to engineer topological superconductivity and MZMs. This talk will introduce the concepts of topological superconductor and MZMs, and how to use MZMs as fault-tolerant quantum computation. More specifically, I will review the recent experimental and theoretical progress in the study of MZMs at the edge of the bismuth bilayer platform and discuss how to engineer a new platform to host MZMs.

References:

1. Stevan Nadj-Perge, Ilya K. Drozdov, Jian Li, Hua Chen, Sangjun Jeon, Jungpil Seo, Allan H. MacDonald, B. A. Bernevig, and Ali Yazdani, "Observation of Majorana fermions in ferromagnetic atomic chains on a superconductor", Science 346, 602-607 (2014)
2. Sangjun Jeon, Yonglong Xie, Jian Li, Zizun Wang, B. Andrei Bernevig, Ali Yazdani, "Distinguishing a Majorana zero mode using spin-resolved measurements", Science 358, 772 (2017)
3. Jäck, B.; Xie, Y.; Li, J.; Jeon, S.; Bernevig, B. A.; Yazdani, "A. Observation of a Majorana Zero Mode in a Topologically Protected Edge Channel", Science 364, 6447 (2019)