Majorana zero modes and topological quantum computation

• Published in: npj quantum information Vol. 1; no. 1; p. 15001
• Main Authors: Sarma, Sankar Das, Freedman, Michael, Nayak, Chetan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 27-10-2015; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/766/483; Classical and Quantum Gravitation; Information processing; Nanotechnology; Physics; Quantum Computing; Quantum Field Theories; Quantum Information Technology; Quantum Physics; Relativity Theory; review-article; Spintronics; String Theory
• ISSN: 2056-6387; 2056-6387
• DOI: 10.1038/npjqi.2015.1

We provide a current perspective on the rapidly developing field of Majorana zero modes (MZMs) in solid-state systems. We emphasise the theoretical prediction, experimental realisation and potential use of MZMs in future information processing devices through braiding-based topological quantum computation (TQC). Well-separated MZMs should manifest non-Abelian braiding statistics suitable for unitary gate operations for TQC. Recent experimental work, following earlier theoretical predictions, has shown specific signatures consistent with the existence of Majorana modes localised at the ends of semiconductor nanowires in the presence of superconducting proximity effect. We discuss the experimental findings and their theoretical analyses, and provide a perspective on the extent to which the observations indicate the existence of anyonic MZMs in solid-state systems. We also discuss fractional quantum Hall systems (the 5/2 state), which have been extensively studied in the context of non-Abelian anyons and TQC. We describe proposed schemes for carrying out braiding with MZMs as well as the necessary steps for implementing TQC.