MajoranasAreReal · Search for mechanisms to control chiral Majorana modes in superconductors

Quantum mechanics teaches that electrons have a complex wave function, characterized by an amplitude and a phase. As first theorized by Majorana, it is possible in principle for a charge-neutral particle to have a real wave function. Such real fermions, or Majorana fermions, could be robust carriers of quantum information, insensitive to charge noise and other sources of dephasing. With recent experimental developments in topological superconductivity this idea is becoming a reality.Our objective is to design methods to control the flow of quantum information encoded in ""flying"" qubits based on Majorana fermions propagating unidirectionally (chirally) in the edge modes of a topological superconductor. We aim for tools to control the phase, charge, and fermion parity of the chiral Majorana modes, on both two-dimensional and three-dimensional platforms, to enable the computational applications of entanglement, braiding, and quantum state transfer.The impact of this project is that it will provide the basic building blocks for the integration of localized and flying Majorana qubits in the architecture of a topological quantum computer. The key high-risk/high-reward deliverable is a method to exploit the chiral motion of flying Majorana qubits to facilitate braiding operations, as a demonstration of non-Abelian exchange statistics.""