Self-consistent study of topological superconductors

拓扑超导体的自洽研究

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-06550
• 负责人: Tanaka, Kaori
• 金额: $ 2.48万
• 依托单位: University of Saskatchewan
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=666485
• 关键词: Self; consistent; study; topological; superconductors

Since the first theoretical prediction of three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators a decade ago and their subsequent experimental discovery in bismuth-based compounds, there has been a burst of theoretical and experimental activities in this new and vast field of topological materials, which keeps advancing and expanding at a very fast rate. Though insulating in the bulk, a 3D topological insulator hosts novel metallic surface states protected by topology and upon carrier doping, can turn into a 3D topological superconductor or present two-dimensional (2D) topological superconductivity (TSC) on its surfaces. There have also been promising proposals for engineering 2D TSC in a wide variety of systems such as semiconductor heterostructures made of conventional materials.***One of the consequences of TSC that makes this field significant is the emergence of Majorana fermions as topologically protected, zero-energy excitations in topological superconductors. Majorana fermions -- which are their own antiparticles and obey the non-Abelian exchange statistics -- have long been sought after in the area of high-energy physics, yet detection of Majorana fermions as elementary particles remains elusive to this day. Thus, the capability of creating Majorana fermions in condensed matter systems will potentially lead to not only a breakthrough in fundamental physics, but also realisation of scalable, fault-tolerant topological quantum computation.***The major goal of the proposed research program is to have a comprehensive understanding of the properties of Majorana fermions in various families of topological superconductors. It is essential to understand how they can be created and stabilised, and how to control and manipulate them, so as to design solid-state devices that can be used as qubits for quantum computing. The proposed research also aims to explore TSC in newly discovered topological semimetals, which have brought about new possibilities not only for various technological applications, but also for exploring fundamental quantum physics in table-top experiments. To expedite the research projects in this very competitive field, recently developed, efficient numerical algorithms and large-scale parallel computation will be utilised. Through working on a project in the proposed research program, students will receive excellent research training in cutting-edge materials science, which will be an asset for the student's future career -- in academia or industry -- no matter what area the student chooses to pursue.

自从十年前首次从理论上预测三维(3D)拓扑绝缘体，以及随后在铋系化合物中的实验发现以来，这一新的、广阔的拓扑材料领域出现了一系列的理论和实验活动，并以非常快的速度发展和扩大。三维拓扑绝缘体虽然整体绝缘，但具有受拓扑保护的新型金属表面态，当载流子掺杂时，可以转变为三维拓扑超导体或在其表面呈现二维(2D)拓扑超导(TSC)。也有一些人提出了在各种系统中设计2D TSC的建议，例如用传统材料制成的半导体异质结构。TSC使这一领域具有重要意义的后果之一是在拓扑超导体中出现了作为拓扑保护的零能激发的Majorana费米子。马约拉纳费米子是它们自己的反粒子，遵守非阿贝尔交换统计数据，长期以来一直在高能物理领域受到追捧，但直到今天，作为基本粒子的马约拉纳费米子的探测仍然难以捉摸。因此，在凝聚态系统中产生Majorana费米子的能力不仅可能导致基础物理的突破，而且还可能实现可扩展的、容错的拓扑量子计算。*拟议的研究计划的主要目标是全面了解各种拓扑超导体中的Majorana费米子的性质。了解如何创造和稳定它们，以及如何控制和操纵它们，以便设计可以用作量子计算的量子比特的固态设备，这是至关重要的。这项拟议的研究还旨在探索新发现的拓扑半金属中的TSC，这不仅为各种技术应用带来了新的可能性，也为在桌面实验中探索基础量子物理带来了新的可能性。为了加快这一竞争激烈的领域的研究项目，将利用最近开发的高效数值算法和大规模并行计算。通过参与拟议研究计划中的一个项目，学生将接受尖端材料科学方面的出色研究培训，这将是学生未来职业生涯的一笔财富--无论是在学术界还是在行业--无论学生选择从事哪个领域。