Experimental Detection of a Majorana Mode in the core of a Magnetic Vortex inside a Topological Insulator-Superconductor Bi 2 Te 3 / NbSe 2 Heterostructure

Majorana fermions have been intensively studied in recent years for their importance to both fundamental science and potential applications in topological quantum computing. They are predicted to exist in a vortex core of superconducting topological insulators. However, it is extremely difficult to distinguish them experimentally from other quasiparticle states for the tiny energy difference between Majorana fermions and these states, which is beyond the energy resolution of most available techniques. Here, we circumvent the problem by systematically investigating the spatial profile of the Majorana mode and the bound quasiparticle states within a vortex in Bi(2)Te(3) films grown on a superconductor NbSe(2).…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 11174199, 91021002, 11134008, 11274269, 11274228, 11023002, 11227404
• MO
  Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China

  Awards: 2011CB922101, 2011CB922200, 2013CB921902, 2011CB921902, 2011CBA00108, 2012CB927401