Sub-nm wide electron channels protected by topology

Understand

Helical locking of spin and momentum and prohibited backscattering are the key properties of topologically protected states.

• They are expected to enable novel types of information processing such as spintronics by providing pure spin currents, or fault tolerant quantum computation by using the Majorana fermions at interfaces of topological states with superconductors.
• So far, the required helical conduction channels used to realize Majorana fermions are generated through application of an axial magnetic field to conventional semiconductor nanowires.
• Avoiding the magnetic field enhances the possibilities for circuit design significantly.