Nearly quantized conductance plateau of vortex zero mode in an iron-based superconductor

Shiyu Zhu; Lingyuan Kong; Lu Cao; Hui Chen; Michał Papaj; Shixuan Du; Yuqing Xing; Wenyao Liu; Dongfei Wang; Chengmin Shen; Fazhi Yang; John Schneeloch; Ruidan Zhong; Genda Gu; Liang Fu; Yu Yang Zhang; Hong Ding; Hong Jun Gao

doi:10.1126/science.aax0274

Nearly quantized conductance plateau of vortex zero mode in an iron-based superconductor

Shiyu Zhu, Lingyuan Kong, Lu Cao, Hui Chen, Michał Papaj, Shixuan Du, Yuqing Xing, Wenyao Liu, Dongfei Wang, Chengmin Shen, Fazhi Yang, John Schneeloch, Ruidan Zhong, Genda Gu, Liang Fu, Yu Yang Zhang, Hong Ding, Hong Jun Gao

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

184 Scopus citations

Abstract

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 FeTe_0.55Se_0.45 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 FeTe_0.55Se_0.45

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	189-192
Number of pages	4
Journal	Science
Volume	367
Issue number	6474
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax0274
State	Published - Jan 10 2020
Externally published	Yes

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title = "Nearly quantized conductance plateau of vortex zero mode in an iron-based superconductor",

abstract = "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",

author = "Shiyu Zhu and Lingyuan Kong and Lu Cao and Hui Chen and Micha{\l} Papaj and Shixuan Du and Yuqing Xing and Wenyao Liu and Dongfei Wang and Chengmin Shen and Fazhi Yang and John Schneeloch and Ruidan Zhong and Genda Gu and Liang Fu and Zhang, {Yu Yang} and Hong Ding and Gao, {Hong Jun}",

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doi = "10.1126/science.aax0274",

language = "English",

volume = "367",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Nearly quantized conductance plateau of vortex zero mode in an iron-based superconductor

AU - Zhu, Shiyu

AU - Kong, Lingyuan

AU - Cao, Lu

AU - Chen, Hui

AU - Papaj, Michał

AU - Du, Shixuan

AU - Xing, Yuqing

AU - Liu, Wenyao

AU - Wang, Dongfei

AU - Shen, Chengmin

AU - Yang, Fazhi

AU - Schneeloch, John

AU - Zhong, Ruidan

AU - Gu, Genda

AU - Fu, Liang

AU - Zhang, Yu Yang

AU - Ding, Hong

AU - Gao, Hong Jun

PY - 2020/1/10

Y1 - 2020/1/10

N2 - 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

AB - 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

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077762026&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1126/science.aax0274

DO - 10.1126/science.aax0274

M3 - Article

C2 - 31831637

AN - SCOPUS:85077762026

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 367

SP - 189

EP - 192

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6474

ER -

Nearly quantized conductance plateau of vortex zero mode in an iron-based superconductor

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