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arXiv:2401.11510 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Majorana modes and their Floquet engineering in a trapped-ion system

Ming-Jian Gao, Yu-Peng Ma, Jun‐Hong An

Published May 22, 2024• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Obeying non-Abelian statistics, Majorana fermions holds a promise to implement fault-tolerant quantum computing. It was found that Majorana fermions can be simulated by the zero-energy excitation in a nanowire with strong spin-orbit coupling interacting with an $s$-wave superconductor under a magnetic field. However, the signal of Majorana fermion in that system is obscured by the disorder in the nanowire and the confinement potential at the wire end. Thus, more controllable platforms are desired to simulate Majorana fermions. We here propose an alternative scheme to simulate the Majorana fermions in a trapped-ion system. Our dimerized-ion configuration permits us to generate the Majorana modes not only at zero energy but also at the nonzero ones, which enlarge the family of Majorana modes and supply another qubit carrier for quantum computing. We also investigate the controllability of the Majorana modes by Floquet engineering. It is found that a widely tunable number of Majorana modes are created on demand by applying a periodic driving on the trapped-ion system. Enriching the platforms for simulating Majorana fermions, our result would open another avenue for realizing fault-tolerant quantum computing.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.109.184518

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Obeying non-Abelian statistics, Majorana fermions holds a promise to implement fault-tolerant quantum computing. It was found that Majorana fermions can be simulated by the zero-energy excitation in a nanowire with strong spin-orbit coupling interacting with an sss-wave superconductor under a magnetic field. However, the signal of Majorana fermion in that system is obscured by the disorder in the nanowire and the confinement potential at the wire end. Thus, more controllable platforms are desired to simulate Majorana fermions. We here propose an alternative scheme to simulate the Majorana fermions in a trapped-ion system. Our dimerized-ion configuration permits us to generate the Majorana modes not only at zero energy but also at the nonzero ones, which enlarge the family of Majorana modes and supply another qubit carrier for quantum computing. We also investigate the controllability of the Majorana modes by Floquet engineering. It is found that a widely tunable number of Majorana modes are created on demand by applying a periodic driving on the trapped-ion system. Enriching the platforms for simulating Majorana fermions, our result would open another avenue for realizing fault-tolerant quantum computing.
Majorana zero modes, quasiparticles with non-Abelian statistics, have gained increasing interest for their fundamental role as building blocks in topological quantum computation. Previous studies have mainly focused on two well-separated Majorana zero modes, which could form two degenerate states serving as one nonlocal qubit for fault-tolerant quantum memory. However, creating and manipulating multiple Majorana zero modes, which could encode more qubits, remain an ongoing research topic. Here we report that multiple Majorana zero modes can exist in atomic Fermi double wires with spin-orbit coupling and perpendicular Zeeman field. This system belongs to the topological BDI class, thus all the topological superfluids are classified by integer numbers. Especially, diverse topological superfluids can be formed in a trap, where the zero energy modes can be found at the interfaces between different topological superfluids. The structure of these zero energy modes in the trap can be engineered by the trapping potential as well as other system parameters. This system would be a significant step towards utilization of Majorana zero modes in quantum computation.
Majorana zero modes, characterized by non-Abelian exchange statistics, have been widely viewed as prime candidates for implementing topological quantum computing. The associated braiding and fusion operations realize topologically protected quantum gates and qubit measurements, thus providing a feasible pathway toward intrinsically fault-tolerant quantum computation. However, the experimental realization of controllable braiding and fusion of Majorana zero modes remains one of the most formidable challenges in the field.In this paper, building upon recent theoretical advances in quantum-dot-assisted schemes for realizing the braiding and fusion of Majorana zero modes, we provide a systematic introduction to the underlying theoretical foundations and detailed operational procedures, and further elucidate the experimental feasibility of the approach.Furthermore, this paper presents two lines of investigation developed within the proposed framework. Firstly, based on the quantum-dot-assisted braiding scheme, the dynamical evolution of Andreev bound states in Majorana nanowires is revealed. Secondly, employing the quantum-dot-assisted fusion scheme, numerical simulations of charge transfer along different fusion paths clarify the nontrivial fusion rules of Majorana zero modes and the corresponding operational procedures.
Detection and manipulation of excitations with non-Abelian statistics, such as Majorana fermions, are essential for creating topological quantum computers. To this end, we show the connection between the existence of such localized particles and the phenomenon of unitary subharmonic response (SR) in periodically driven systems. In particular, starting from highly nonequilibrium initial states, the unpaired Majorana modes exhibit spin oscillations with twice the driving period, are localized, and can have exponentially long lifetimes in clean systems. While the lifetime of SR is limited in translationally invariant systems, we show that disorder can be engineered to stabilize the subharmonic response of Majorana modes. A viable observation of this phenomenon can be achieved using modern multiqubit hardware, such as superconducting circuits and cold atomic systems.
The topic of Majorana zero modes has been a focal point of the condensed matter physicscommunity in recent times due in part to their potential applications in quantum computation.Most notably, the exotic exchange statistics of Majorana zero modes form the basis oftopologically protected quantum gates. The physical exchange, or braiding, of Majorana zeromodes is often modeled in two-dimensional systems or by using networks of wires. Recentwork has established that Majorana zero modes can be braided in a purely one-dimensionalsetting with a periodic, or Floquet, drive. Specifically, the work of Bauer et al. in Ref.[1] demonstrates that a working braiding protocol can be simulated on a Kitaev chain withperiodically modulated parameters. This Floquet system gives rise to both Majorana zeromodes and Majorana pi modes, the latter of which serves as an additional degree of freedomin the braiding protocol.We reproduce the results of Ref. [1] through numerical simulation and extend theirbraiding protocol such that it includes both disorder and interactions. We demonstrate thatthe protocol remains successful when the disorder is weak compared to the parameters of thesystem. In the case of strong disorder, we demonstrate that the protocol fails. In addition,we show that the protocol is quite sensitive to the presence of interactions. We illustratethat interactions cause a severe delocalization of the Majorana zero modes leading to thefailure of the protocol
The idea of topological quantum computation (TQC) is to store and manipulate quantum information in an intrinsically fault-tolerant manner by utilizing the physics of topologically ordered phases of matter. Currently, one of the most promising platforms for a topological qubit is in terms of Majorana fermion zero modes (MZMs) in spin-orbit coupled superconducting nanowires. However, the topologically robust operations that are possible with MZMs can be efficiently simulated on a classical computer and are therefore not sufficient for realizing a universal gate set for TQC. Here, we show that an array of coupled semiconductor-superconductor nanowires with MZM edge states can be used to realize a more sophisticated type of non-Abelian defect: a genon in an Ising ×\times× Ising topological state. This leads to a possible implementation of the missing topologically protected π/8π/8π/8 phase gate and thus universal TQC based on semiconductor-superconductor nanowire technology. We provide detailed numerical estimates of the relevant energy scales, which we show to lie within accessible ranges.
We develop an approach to realizing a topological phase transition and non-Abelian braiding statistics with dynamically induced Floquet Majorana fermions (FMFs). When the periodic driving potential does not break fermion parity conservation, FMFs can encode quantum information. Quasienergy analysis shows that a stable FMF zero mode and two other satellite modes exist in a wide parameter space with large quasienergy gaps, which prevents transitions to other Floquet states under adiabatic driving. We also show that in the asymptotic limit FMFs preserve non-Abelian braiding statistics and, thus, behave like their equilibrium counterparts.