Crossed Andreev Reflection and Elastic Cotunneling in Three Quantum Dots Coupled by Superconductors

The formation of a topological superconducting phase in a quantum-dot-based Kitaev chain requires nearest neighbor crossed Andreev reflection and elastic cotunneling. Here, we report on a hybrid InSb nanowire in a three-site Kitaev chain geometry - the smallest system with well-defined bulk and edge - where two superconductor-semiconductor...

Realization of a minimal Kitaev chain in coupled quantum dots

Majorana bound states constitute one of the simplest examples of emergent non-Abelian excitations in condensed matter physics. A toy model proposed by Kitaev shows that such states can arise at the ends of a spinless p-wave superconducting chain¹. Practical proposals for its realization^2,3 require coupling neighbouring...

Single-Shot Fabrication of Semiconducting–Superconducting Nanowire Devices

Semiconducting–superconducting hybrids are vital components for the realization of high-performance nanoscale devices. In particular, semiconducting–superconducting nanowires attract widespread interest owing to the possible presence of non-abelian Majorana zero modes, which are quasiparticles that hold promise for topological quantum...

Spin-Orbit Interaction and Induced Superconductivity in a One-Dimensional Hole Gas

Low dimensional semiconducting structures with strong spin-orbit interaction (SOI) and induced superconductivity attracted great interest in the search for topological superconductors. Both the strong SOI and hard superconducting gap are directly related to the topological protection of the predicted Majorana bound states. Here we explore the...