Nearly quantized conductance plateau of vortex zero mode in an iron-based superconductor
Author(s)
Zhu, Shiyu; Kong, Lingyuan; Cao, Lu; Chen, Hui; Papaj, Michal; Du, Shixuan; Xing, Yuqing; Liu, Wenyao; Wang, Dongfei; Shen, Chengmin; Yang, Fazhi; Schneeloch, John; Zhong, Ruidan; Gu, Genda; Fu, Liang; Zhang, Yu-Yang; Ding, Hong; Gao, Hong-Jun; ... Show more Show less
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Majorana zero modes (MZMs) are spatially localized, zero-energy fractional quasiparticles with non-Abelian braiding statistics that hold promise for topological quantum computing. Owing to the particle-antiparticle equivalence, MZMs exhibit quantized conductance at low temperature. By using variable-tunnel-coupled scanning tunneling spectroscopy, we studied tunneling conductance of vortex bound states on FeTe0.55Se0.45 superconductors. We report observations of conductance plateaus as a function of tunnel coupling for zero-energy vortex bound states with values close to or even reaching the 2e2/h quantum conductance (where e is the electron charge and h is Planck's constant). By contrast, no plateaus were observed on either finite energy vortex bound states or in the continuum of electronic states outside the superconducting gap. This behavior of the zero-mode conductance supports the existence of MZMs in FeTe0.55Se0.45
Date issued
2019-12Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of PhysicsJournal
Science
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Citation
Zhu, Shiyu et al. "Nearly quantized conductance plateau of vortex zero mode in an iron-based superconductor." Science 367, 6474: 189-192 © 2020 American Association for the Advancement of Science
Version: Author's final manuscript
ISSN
0036-8075
1095-9203