Experimental Phase Diagram of a One-Dimensional Topological Superconductor

Understand

Topological superconductors can host Majorana quasiparticles which supersede the fermion/boson dichotomy and offer a pathway to fault tolerant quantum computation.

• In one-dimensional systems zero-energy Majorana states are bound to the ends of the topologically superconducting regions.
• An experimental signature of a Majorana bound state is a conductance peak at zero source-drain voltage bias in a tunneling experiment.
• Here, we identify the bulk topological phase in a semiconductor nanowire coupled to a conventional superconductor.