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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

A new Majorana platform in an Fe-As bilayer superconductor

Iron-chalcogenide superconductors have emerged as a promising Majorana platform for topological quantum computation. By combining topological band and superconductivity in a single material, they provide significant advantage to realize isolated Majorana zero modes. However, iron-chalcogenide superconductors, especially Fe(Te,Se), suffer from strong inhomogeneity which may hamper their practical application. In addition, some iron-pnictide superconductors have been demonstrated to have topological surface states, yet no Majorana zero mode has been observed inside their vortices, raising a question of universality about this new Majorana platform. In this work, through angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy measurement, we identify Dirac surface states and Majorana zero modes, respectively, for the first time in an iron-pnictide superconductor, CaKFe 4 As 4 . More strikingly, the multiple vortex bound states with integer-quantization sequences can be accurately reproduced by our model calculation, firmly establishing Majorana nature of the zero mode.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Topological surface superconductivity in FeSe 0.45 Te 0.55

The engineering of Majorana zero modes in topological superconductors, a paradigm for the realization of topological quantum computing and topology-based devices, has been hampered by the absence of materials with sufficiently large superconducting gaps. Recent experiments, however, have provided enthralling evidence for the existence of topological surface superconductivity in the iron-based superconductor FeSe 0.45 Te 0.55 possessing a full s> ± -wave gap of a few meV. Here, we propose a mechanism for the emergence of topological superconductivity on the surface of FeSe 0.45 Te 0.55 by demonstrating that the interplay between the s ± -wave symmetry of the superconducting gap, surface magnetism, and a Rashba spin–orbit interaction gives rise to robust topological superconducting phases. Moreover, the proposed mechanism explains a series of experimentally observed hallmarks of topological superconductivity, such as the emergence of Majorana zero modes in the center of vortex cores and at the end of line defects, as well as of chiral Majorana edge modes along domain walls. We also propose that the spatial distribution of supercurrents near a domain wall is a characteristic signature measurable via a scanning superconducting quantum interference device that can distinguish between chiral Majorana edge modes and trivial in-gap states.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Phase-Slip Lines and Anomalous Josephson Effects in Tungsten Nanoscale Cluster-Based Topological Insulator Nanobridges: Implications for Topologically Protected Qubits and Quantum Sensors

Superconducting topological systems formed by a strong 3D topological insulator (TI) in proximity to a conventional s-wave superconductor (SC) have been intensely studied, as they may host Majorana zero modes. However, there are limited experimental realizations of TI-SC systems in which robust superconducting pairing is induced on the surface states of the TI and a topological superconducting state is established. Here, we fabricate a TI-SC system by depositing, via a focused ion beam, tungsten (W) nanoscale clusters on the surface of TI Bi 0.91 Sb 0.09 . We find that the resulting heterostructure supports phase-slip lines (PSLs) that act as effective Josephson junctions (JJs). Here, we probe the response of the system to microwave radiation. We find that for some ac frequencies, and powers, the resulting Shapiro steps’ structure of the voltage–current characteristic exhibits a missing first step and an unexpectedly wide second Shapiro step. The theoretical analysis of the measurements shows that the unusual Shapiro response arises from the interplay between a static JJ and a dynamic one and allows us to identify the conditions under which the missing first step can be attributed to the topological nature of the JJs formed by the PSLs. Our results suggest an approach to induce superconductivity in a TI, a route to realizing highly transparent topological JJs, and show how the response of superconducting systems to microwave radiation can be used to infer the dynamics of PSLs. Highly transparent topological junctions are promising candidates to realize vector field sensors with very high sensitivity. In addition, due to the nontrivial Berry phase of the TI’s surface states such junctions can be in a topological state which is ideal to create topologically protected qubits.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2026

Understanding Majorana braiding in superconductors with a fixed total number of particles

Mean-field one-dimensional topological superconductors host edge Majorana zero modes (MZMs) that encode a topologically protected ground-state degeneracy and enable robust braiding operations within this subspace. Mean-field states lack definite particle number and thus cannot represent isolated systems. Nevertheless, projecting them onto fixed particle number can yield good approximations to an isolated superconductor ground state. In earlier work [Sajith et al., Phys. Rev. B 109, 184509 (2024)] we showed that the projected Kitaev wave function of a single wire preserves some important mean-field features, such as the zero-energy spectral peaks near the wire edges. However, uniqueness of the fixed-number ground state does not allow for any nontrivial operations in the ground-state subspace. To overcome this limitation, here we consider the case of multiple wires with a conserved total charge, using the same approach. In the limit of vanishing interwire coupling, this system has a macroscopic ground-state degeneracy. We show how this degeneracy is resolved by coherent single-particle tunneling, and identify special many-body states which play the same role as the MZM parity states in the mean field. In this work, we demonstrate how braiding operations can be implemented and discuss both intrinsic and extrinsic limits on their fidelity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Gate-defined wires in twisted bilayer graphene: From electrical detection of intervalley coherence to internally engineered Majorana modes

Twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) realizes a highly tunable, strongly interacting system featuring superconductivity and various correlated insulating states. We establish gate-defined wires in TBG with proximity-induced spin-orbit coupling as (i) a tool for revealing the nature of correlated insulators and (ii) a platform for Majorana-based topological qubits. We show that the band structure of a gate-defined wire immersed in an intervalley coherent correlated insulator inherits electrically detectable fingerprints of symmetry breaking native to the latter. Surrounding the wire by a superconducting TBG region on one side and an intervalley coherent correlated insulator on the other further enables the formation of Majorana zero modes—possibly even at zero magnetic field depending on the precise symmetry-breaking order present. Our proposal not only introduces a highly gate-tunable topological qubit medium relying on internally generated proximity effects but can also shed light on the Cooper-pairing mechanism in TBG.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Logical Majorana zero modes in a nanowire network

We present a scheme to use physical Majorana quasizero modes at each junction of a two-dimensional nanowire network to build a logical Majorana zero mode, the location of which is controllable through gate voltages. The wire network is a way to realize a recent proposal to imprint a Kekulé vortex pattern on a honeycomb lattice via gate voltages. We show that a specific type of junction, other than a naive Y or T junction, is needed to realize, without breaking time-reversal symmetry, an artificial “graphene” system with Majorana fermions instead of complex ones at each site. The junction we propose (i) traps exactly one physical Majorana (quasi)zero mode at each site of either a brick wall or honeycomb lattice and (ii) allows this mode to hybridize with all three neighboring sites. Using a lattice of these junctions and starting from an electronic, tight-binding model for the wires, we imprint the voltage patterns corresponding to the Kekulé vortex and observe the emergence of the logical Majorana zero mode at the vortex core. By suitable adiabatic modulations of gate voltages as a function of time, the positions of individual Kekulé vortices can be moved, and in this manner, non-Abelian braiding of the logical Majoranas bound to the vortex cores can be performed. We provide the range of parameters where these excitations could be realized experimentally.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

Creating and Probing Large Gap 2D Topological Insulators for Quantum Computing (Final Report)

Research under this award focused on experimental and theoretical efforts in developing and characterizing 2D topological insulators (TIs). Key areas of investigation included materials synthesis, device fabrication and characterization, and theoretical advancements. The team synthesized ZrTe 5 , a material with potential for TI phases. Additionally, the team pursued the synthesis of elemental thin films like Indene and Bismuthene, known for their large TI gaps. Indene was successfully stabilized on SiC. Another approach involved stacking and twisting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) to engineer desired TI band structures. On the theoretical front, advancements made under this award predicted remarkable topological properties in twisted WSe2 bilayers, motivating experimental efforts to realize these states. Regarding device fabrication and characterization, significant progress was made in reducing contact resistance, crucial for reliable transport measurements. Contactless Pulsed Tunneling Spectroscopy (CPTS) was employed to study the electronic properties of WTe 2 and WSe 2 . However, challenges in device fabrication and electrode material selection hampered efforts to obtain desired spectra. Ancillary work, utilizing pulsed electrical methods, on the study of sliding ferroelectrics yielded impactful results demonstrating high speed operation and lack of degradation of devices after many billions of cycles.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Shuttling Majorana zero modes in disordered and noisy topological superconductors

The braiding of Majorana zero modes (MZMs) forms the fundamental building block for topological quantum computation. Braiding protocols which involve the physical exchange of MZMs are typically envisioned on a network of topological superconducting wires. An important component of these protocols is the transport of MZMs, which can be performed by using electric gates to locally tune sections of the wire between topologically trivial and nontrivial phases. In this work, we numerically simulate this transport by tuning a single section of a superconducting wire which contains either disorder (uncorrelated and correlated) or noise. We focus on the impact of these additional effects on the diabatic error, which describes unwanted transitions between the ground state and excited states. We show that the behavior of the average diabatic error is predominantly controlled by the statistics of the minimum bulk energy gap which is suppressed in the presence of disorder. The increase in diabatic error can be several orders of magnitude and is most deleterious when the disorder correlation length is a finite fraction of the transport distance and negligible when these lengths are far apart. In the presence of noise, the diabatic error is significantly enhanced due to optical transitions which depend on the minimum bulk energy gap as well as the frequency modes present in the noise. The results presented here serve to further characterize the diabatic error in disordered and noisy settings, which are important considerations in practical implementations of physical braiding schemes.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Majorana zero modes in impurity-assisted vortex of LiFeAs superconductor

The iron-based superconductor is emerging as a promising platform for Majorana zero mode, which can be used to implement topological quantum computation. One of the most significant advances of this platform is the appearance of large vortex level spacing that strongly protects Majorana zero mode from other low-lying quasiparticles. Despite the advantages in the context of physics research, the inhomogeneity of various aspects hampers the practical construction of topological qubits in the compounds studied so far. Here we show that the stoichiometric superconductor LiFeAs is a good candidate to overcome this obstacle. By using scanning tunneling microscopy, we discover that the Majorana zero modes, which are absent on the natural clean surface, can appear in vortices influenced by native impurities. Our detailed analysis reveals a new mechanism for the emergence of those Majorana zero modes, i.e. native tuning of bulk Dirac fermions. The discovery of Majorana zero modes in this homogeneous material, with a promise of tunability, offers an ideal material platform for manipulating and braiding Majorana zero modes, pushing one step forward towards topological quantum computation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

In-plane selective area InSb–Al nanowire quantum networks

Abstract Strong spin–orbit semiconductor nanowires coupled to a superconductor are predicted to host Majorana zero modes. Exchange (braiding) operations of Majorana modes form the logical gates of a topological quantum computer and require a network of nanowires. Here, we utilize an in-plane selective area growth technique for InSb–Al semiconductor–superconductor nanowire networks. Transport channels, free from extended defects, in InSb nanowire networks are realized on insulating, but heavily mismatched InP (111)B substrates by full relaxation of the lattice mismatch at the nanowire/substrate interface and nucleation of a complete network from a single nucleation site by optimizing the surface diffusion length of the adatoms. Essential quantum transport phenomena for topological quantum computing are demonstrated in these structures including phase-coherence lengths exceeding several micrometers with Aharonov–Bohm oscillations up to five harmonics and a hard superconducting gap accompanied by 2 e -periodic Coulomb oscillations with an Al-based Cooper pair island integrated in the nanowire network.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Edge majorana quasiparticles and qubits

Various embodiments described herein provide for a topological quantum computer that uses edge Majorana quasi-particles to form qubits. An inverted Indium Arsenide (InAs) and Gallium Antimonide (GaSb) heterostructure is disclosed that is a quantum spin Hall insulator. A layer of aluminum can be deposited over a nanotube that is placed across the layers of the heterostructure. Once the nanotube is removed, and a gate is formed on the heterostructure and the heterostructure is cooled so that the aluminum becomes superconducting, helical edge states are formed at the junction of the super conducting aluminum, the InAs, and the GaSb which creates a Majorana zero modes (MZMs) at zero magnetic field. The MZMs can be used to construct a topological qubit for fault-resistant topological quantum computation.

Pan, Wei↗
DOE OSTI2021

Observation of magnetic adatom-induced Majorana vortex and its hybridization with field-induced Majorana vortex in an iron-based superconductor

Braiding Majorana zero modes is essential for fault-tolerant topological quantum computing. Iron-based superconductors with nontrivial band topology have recently emerged as a surprisingly promising platform for creating distinct Majorana zero modes in magnetic vortices in a single material and at relatively high temperatures. The magnetic field-induced Abrikosov vortex lattice makes it difficult to braid a set of Majorana zero modes or to study the coupling of a Majorana doublet due to overlapping wave functions. Here we report the observation of the proposed quantum anomalous vortex with integer quantized vortex core states and the Majorana zero mode induced by magnetic Fe adatoms deposited on the surface. We observe its hybridization with a nearby field-induced Majorana vortex in iron-based superconductor FeTe 0.55 Se 0.45 . We also observe vortex-free Yu-Shiba-Rusinov bound states at the Fe adatoms with a weaker coupling to the substrate, and discover a reversible transition between Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states and Majorana zero mode by manipulating the exchange coupling strength. The dual origin of the Majorana zero modes, from magnetic adatoms and external magnetic field, provides a new single-material platform for studying their interactions and braiding in superconductors bearing topological band structures.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

Solving the Bernstein-Vazirani problem using Majorana-based topological quantum algorithms

Executing quantum algorithms using Majorana zero modes—a major milestone for the field of topological quantum computing—requires a platform that can be scaled to large quantum registers, can be controlled in real time and space, and a braiding protocol that uses the unique properties of these exotic particles. Here, we demonstrate the first successful simulation of a Majorana-based, fault-tolerant quantum algorithm to solve the Bernstein-Vazirani problem in two-dimensional magnet-superconductor hybrid structures from initialization to read-out of the final many-body state. Utilizing the Majorana zero modes’ topological properties, we introduce an optimized braiding protocol for the algorithm and a scalable architecture for its implementation with an arbitrary number of qubits. We visualize the algorithm protocol in real time and space by computing the non-equilibrium density of states, which is proportional to the time-dependent differential conductance, and the non-equilibrium charge density, which assigns a unique signature to each final state of the algorithm.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2020

Chiral topologically ordered insulating phases in arrays of interacting integer quantum Hall islands

Here, we study networks of Coulomb-blockaded integer quantum Hall islands with even fillings ν = 2 k ( k being an integer), including cases with 2 k layers each of ν = 1 fillings. Allowing only spin-current interactions between the islands (i.e., without any charge transfer), we obtain solvable models leading to a rich set of insulating S U ( 2 ) k topologically ordered phases. The case with k = 1 is dual to the Kalmeyer-Laughlin phase, k = 2 to Kitaev's chiral spin liquid and the Moore-Read state, and k = 3 contains a Fibonacci anyon that may be utilized for universal topological quantum computation. Additionally, we show how the S U ( 2 ) k topological phases may be obtained also in an array of islands with ν = 2 k integer quantum Hall states and critical spin chains in a checkerboard pattern. The array and checkerboard constructions gap out the charge mode and additional “flavor” modes by virtue of their geometry. Furthermore, we find that a fine tuning of the system parameter is not needed in the checkerboard configuration and the ν = 2 case. We also discuss their bulk excitations, and show that their thermal Hall conductance is universal, reflecting the central charge c = 3 k / ( k + 2 ) of the chiral edge modes.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2020

Absence of Fibonacci anyons in Rydberg chains

Recent experiments have focused attention on the properties of chains of atoms in which the atoms are either in their ground states or in highly excited Rydberg states which block similar excitations in their immediate neighbors. As the low-energy Hilbert space of such chains is isomorphic to that of a chain of Fibonacci anyons, they have been proposed as a platform for topological quantum computation and for simulating anyon dynamics. In this work, we show that generic local operators in the Rydberg chain correspond to nonlocal anyonic operators that do not preserve a topological symmetry of the physical anyons. Consequently, we argue that Rydberg chains do not yield Fibonacci anyons and quantum computation with Rydberg atoms is not topologically protected.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Topological data analysis of task-based fMRI data from experiments on schizophrenia

We use methods from computational algebraic topology to study functional brain networks, in which nodes represent brain regions and weighted edges represent similarity of fMRI time series from each region. With these tools, which allow one to characterize topological invariants such as loops in high-dimensional data, we are able to gain understanding into low-dimensional structures in networks in a way that complements traditional approaches based on pairwise interactions. In the present paper, we analyze networks constructed from task-based fMRI data from schizophrenia patients, healthy controls, and healthy siblings of schizophrenia patients using persistent homology, which allows us to explore the persistence of topological structures such as loops at different scales in the networks. We use persistence landscapes, persistence images, and Betti curves to create output summaries from our persistent-homology calculations, and we study the persistence landscapes and images using k-means clustering and community detection. Based on our analysis of persistence landscapes, we find that the members of the sibling cohort have topological features (specifically, their 1-dimensional loops) that are distinct from the other two cohorts. From the persistence images, we are able to distinguish all three subject groups and to determine the brain regions in the loops (with four or more edges) that allow us to make these distinctions.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

A topological superconductor tuned by electronic correlations

A topological superconductor, characterized by either a chiral order parameter or a topological surface state in proximity to bulk superconductivity, is foundational to topological quantum computing. A key open challenge is whether electron-electron interactions can tune such topological superconducting phases. Here, we provide experimental signatures of a unique topological superconducting phase in competition with electronic correlations in 10-unit-cell thick FeTe x Se 1-x films grown on SrTiO 3 substrates. When the Te content x exceeds 0.7, we observe a topological transition marked by the emergence of a superconducting surface state. Near the FeTe limit, the system undergoes another transition where the surface state disappears, and superconductivity is suppressed. Theory suggests that electron-electron interactions in the odd-parity xy− band drives this second topological transition. The flattening and eventual decoherence of d xy -derived bands track the superconducting dome, linking correlation effects directly to superconducting coherent transport. Our work establishes many-body electronic correlations as a sensitive knob for tuning topology and superconductivity, offering a pathway to engineer new topological phases in correlated materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗