The search for Majorana fermions in topological superconductors is one of paramount research targets in physics today. Using a cryogenic scanning tunneling microscopy, we here report the signature of topologically non...The search for Majorana fermions in topological superconductors is one of paramount research targets in physics today. Using a cryogenic scanning tunneling microscopy, we here report the signature of topologically nontrivial superconductivity on a single material of β-Bi_2Pd films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The superconducting gap associated with spinless odd-parity pairing opens on the surface and appears much larger than the bulk one due to the Dirac-fermion enhanced parity mixing of surface pair potential. Zero bias conductance peaks, probably from Majorana zero modes supported by such superconducting states, are identified at magnetic vortices. The superconductivity exhibits resistance to nonmagnetic defects, characteristic of time-reversal-invariant topological superconductors. Our study reveals β-Bi_2Pd as a prime platform to generate, manipulate and braid Majorana zero modes for quantum computation.展开更多
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaMinistry of Science and Technology+2 种基金Ministry of Education of Chinasupports from the National Thousand-Young-Talents Programthe Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program
文摘The search for Majorana fermions in topological superconductors is one of paramount research targets in physics today. Using a cryogenic scanning tunneling microscopy, we here report the signature of topologically nontrivial superconductivity on a single material of β-Bi_2Pd films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The superconducting gap associated with spinless odd-parity pairing opens on the surface and appears much larger than the bulk one due to the Dirac-fermion enhanced parity mixing of surface pair potential. Zero bias conductance peaks, probably from Majorana zero modes supported by such superconducting states, are identified at magnetic vortices. The superconductivity exhibits resistance to nonmagnetic defects, characteristic of time-reversal-invariant topological superconductors. Our study reveals β-Bi_2Pd as a prime platform to generate, manipulate and braid Majorana zero modes for quantum computation.
