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arXiv:1302.4033 · New Journal of Physics

Microwave-controlled coupling of Majorana bound states

Thomas L. Schmidt, Andreas Nunnenkamp, Christoph Bruder

Published Feb 28, 2013• 45 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose microwave-controlled rotations for qubits realized as Majorana bound states. To this end, we study an inhomogeneous Kitaev chain in a microwave cavity. The chain consists of two topologically nontrivial regions separated by a topologically trivial, gapped region. The Majorana bound states at the interfaces between the left (right) regions and the central region are coupled, and their energies are split by virtual cotunneling processes. The amplitude for these cotunneling processes decreases exponentially with the number of sites of the gapped region, and the decay length diverges as the gap of the topologically trivial region closes. We demonstrate that microwave radiation can exponentially enhance the coupling between the Majorana bound states, both for classical and quantized electric fields. By solving the appropriate Liouville equation numerically, we show that microwaves can drive Rabi oscillations in the Majorana sector. Our model emerges as an effective description of a topological semiconductor nanowire in a microwave cavity. Thus, our proposal provides an experimentally feasible way to obtain full single-qubit control necessary for universal quantum computation with Majorana qubits.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/15/2/025043

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cond-mat.mes-hallCross-listedarXiv:2610.17198•Oct 13, 2026•0 citations
We propose microwave-controlled rotations for qubits realized as Majorana bound states. To this end, we study an inhomogeneous Kitaev chain in a microwave cavity. The chain consists of two topologically nontrivial regions separated by a topologically trivial, gapped region. The Majorana bound states at the interfaces between the left (right) regions and the central region are coupled, and their energies are split by virtual cotunneling processes. The amplitude for these cotunneling processes decreases exponentially with the number of sites of the gapped region, and the decay length diverges as the gap of the topologically trivial region closes. We demonstrate that microwave radiation can exponentially enhance the coupling between the Majorana bound states, both for classical and quantized electric fields. By solving the appropriate Liouville equation numerically, we show that microwaves can drive Rabi oscillations in the Majorana sector. Our model emerges as an effective description of a topological semiconductor nanowire in a microwave cavity. Thus, our proposal provides an experimentally feasible way to obtain full single-qubit control necessary for universal quantum computation with Majorana qubits.
Majorana bound states have been proposed as building blocks for qubits on which certain operations can be performed in a topologically protected way using braiding. However, the set of these protected operations is not sufficient to realize universal quantum computing. We show that the electric field in a microwave cavity can induce Rabi oscillations between adjacent Majorana bound states. These oscillations can be used to implement an additional single-qubit gate. Supplemented with one braiding operation, this gate allows us to perform arbitrary single-qubit operations.
Abstract We investigate the effects of coupling a local electromagnetic cavity to a segment of a topological Kitaev chain (KC), with particular emphasis on the interplay between photons and Majorana zero modes (MZMs). In addition to the well-known scissor effect-which effectively partitions the chain and isolates free MZMs in the bulk-we provide evidence of non-trivial fusion rules and braiding operations, hallmark signatures of non-Abelian anyons, enabled by spatially selective ultrastrong KC-cavity coupling. We propose that these distinctive MZM properties can be experimentally probed via fermionic parity measurements and photon-induced Berry phases. Furthermore, we demonstrate that, in the so-called sweet-spot regime, the coupled system can be mapped onto a Rabi-like model with a homodyne-rotated quadrature, offering a simplified yet powerful theoretical description. Exploiting the symmetry of fermionic modes within a two-site cavity configuration, we also show the feasibility of generating hybrid MZM-polariton Schrödinger cat states. Our findings offer a novel approach to manipulating topological quantum matter through local light–matter interactions and provide theoretical tools for future experimental realizations in platforms such as quantum materials or superconducting circuits.
Majorana zero modes provide a route to fault-tolerant qubits by encoding information non-locally in fermion parity. Their sensitivity to noise is expected to decrease exponentially with increasing separation between the Majoranas, a suppression known as topological protection. Kitaev chains engineered in quantum dot-superconductor arrays provide a tunable platform in which separated Majorana zero modes can emerge at the ends of the chain, even in two-site chains. These minimal-chain modes are known as poor man's Majoranas and retain characteristic Majorana properties, including near-zero energy and equal electron-hole character, but have only limited protection. A key outstanding challenge is to move beyond identifying such modes in electrical transport measurements and achieve coherent qubit control in the time domain. Here, we demonstrate a Majorana parity qubit by realizing coherent coupling between two-site Kitaev chains. Since total fermion parity is conserved, the system separates into global even and odd parity manifolds. We observe coherent parity oscillations in both manifolds with equal oscillation frequencies at the Majorana sweet spot, as predicted for isolated Majorana zero modes. We further show that the oscillation frequency and coherence depend systematically on inter-chain coupling and quantum-dot detunings, in close agreement with our model for short, partially protected chains. Our results establish the first coherent control of a Majorana qubit, encoded in the fermion parity of Majorana zero modes in minimal Kitaev chains.
Constructing a universal operation scheme for Majorana qubits remains a central issue for the topological quantum computation. We study the Landau-Zener-St\"uckelberg interference in a Majorana qubit and show that this interference can be used to achieve controllable operations. The Majorana qubit consists of an rf superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) with a topological nanowire Josephson junction which hosts Majorana bound states. In the SQUID, a magnetic flux pulse can drive the quantum evolution of the Majorana qubit. The qubit experiences two Landau-Zener transitions when the amplitude of the pulse is tuned around the superconducting flux quanta h/2eh/2eh/2e. The Landau-Zener-St\"uckelberg interference between the two transitions rotates the Majorana qubit, with the angle controlled by the time scale of the pulse. This rotation operation implements a high-speed single-qubit gate on the Majorana qubit, which is a necessary ingredient for the topological quantum computation.
We show that the microwave (MW) spectra in semiconductor-nanowire-based transmon qubits provide a strong signature of the presence of Majorana bound states in the junction.This occurs as an external magnetic field tunes the wire into the topological regime and the energy splitting of the emergent Majorana modes oscillates around zero energy owing to their wave function spatial overlap in finite-length wires.In particular, we discuss how these Majorana oscillations, and the concomitant fermion parity switches in the ground state of the junction, result in distinct spectroscopic features-in the form of an intermittent visibility of absorption lines-that strongly deviate from standard transmon behavior.In contrast, nonoscillating zero modes, such as topologically trivial Andreev bound states resulting from sufficiently smooth potentials, exhibit an overall standard transmon response.These differences in the MW response could help determine whether the junction contains topological Majoranas or not.
A recent experiment reported coherent parity oscillations between minimal Kitaev chains, demonstrating a Majorana parity qubit (arXiv:2607.09511). Operations on this qubit are controlled by coupling two Kitaev chains and are intrinsically unprotected against noise in the coupling strength. Here we show how the exponential protection in the underlying chains can nevertheless be revealed through unprotected qubit operations. To this end, we develop an analytical theory of quasistatic dephasing for two coupled NNN-site Kitaev chains at the sweet spot. In Rabi experiments, protection can be resolved by adapting the operating point with chain length: depending on the coupling architecture, it appears as an exponentially increasing optimized number of coherent oscillations or as a longer coherence time. Ramsey experiments show an exponentially increasing coherence time, provided the chains can be sufficiently decoupled. Our analytical theory takes into account the non-Gaussian splitting statistics of the Kitaev chains, allowing us to quantitatively predict the scaling with chain length. Moreover, we determine how residual noise and imperfections limit the range of chain lengths over which this scaling can be observed. Our results show how qubit dynamics can be used to probe Majorana protection in experimentally realistic devices.