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Enhanced Majorana stability in a three-site Kitaev chain

Journal Article (2025)
Author(s)

Alberto Bordin (TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, TU Delft - QRD/Kouwenhoven Lab, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)

Chun Xiao Liu (Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)

Tom Dvir (TU Delft - Qubit Research Division, Quantum Machines (QM), Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre)

Francesco Zatelli (TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - QRD/Kouwenhoven Lab)

Sebastiaan L.D. ten Haaf (TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, TU Delft - QRD/Goswami Lab, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)

David van Driel (Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - Business Development, TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre)

Guanzhong Wang (TU Delft - QRD/Wimmer Group, TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)

Nick Van Loo (Student TU Delft, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)

Yining Zhang (TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, TU Delft - QRD/Goswami Lab, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)

Jan Cornelis Wolff (Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, TU Delft - QRD/Kouwenhoven Lab)

Thomas Van Caekenberghe (Student TU Delft, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)

Michael Wimmer (TU Delft - QN/Wimmer Group, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, TU Delft - QRD/Wimmer Group)

Leo P. Kouwenhoven (TU Delft - QRD/Kouwenhoven Lab, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - QN/Kouwenhoven Lab, TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre)

Grzegorz P. Mazur (TU Delft - QRD/Wimmer Group, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, University of Oxford)

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Research Group
QRD/Kouwenhoven Lab
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01894-4
More Info
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Publication Year
2025
Language
English
Research Group
QRD/Kouwenhoven Lab
Issue number
6
Volume number
20
Pages (from-to)
726-731
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Abstract

Majorana zero modes are non-Abelian quasiparticles predicted to emerge at the edges of topological superconductors. A one-dimensional topological superconductor can be realized with the Kitaev model—a chain of spinless fermions coupled via p-wave superconductivity and electron hopping—which becomes topological in the long-chain limit. Here we realize a three-site Kitaev chain using semiconducting quantum dots coupled by superconducting segments in a hybrid InSb/Al nanowire. We investigate the robustness of Majorana zero modes under varying coupling strengths and electrochemical potentials, comparing two- and three-site chains realized within the same device. We observe that extending the chain to three sites enhances the stability of the zero-energy modes, especially against variations in the coupling strengths. This experiment lacks superconducting phase control, yet numerical conductance simulations with phase averaging align well with our observations. Our results demonstrate the scalability of quantum-dot-based Kitaev chains and its benefits for Majorana stability.