Credit: Institute of Physics

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

A joint research team from the Institute of Physics and the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has observed Majorana bound states in an iron-based superconductor for the first time. The researchers used an ultra-low temperature STM system to measure a single crystal FeTe_0.55Se_0.45 under high magnetic field. Pure Majorana bound states appeared in the vortex core, protected by a large topological gap and able to survive at relatively high temperature. This implies that Majorana bound states can also be found in other multiband superconductors, which enlarges the research field for Majorana excitations. This new platform does not need heterostructure fabrication, making it easier for braiding and demonstrating non-Abelian statistics. It is a major advance in building a future stable, scalable, and fault-tolerant topological quantum computer. This work was published in Science on Oct 19, 2018, with online publication in the same journal on Aug 16, 2018.

Majorana bound states in an iron-based superconductor