Observation of topological superconductivity in a stoichiometric transition metal dichalcogenide 2M-WS2

Journal article

Topological superconductors (TSCs) have garnered significant research and industry attention in the past two decades. By hosting Majorana bound states which can be used as qubits that are robust against local perturbations, TSCs offer a promising platform toward (non-universal) topological quantum computation. However, there has been a scarcity of TSC candidates, and the experimental signatures that identify a TSC are often elusive. In this perspective, after a short review of the TSC basics and theories, we provide an overview of the TSC materials candidates, including natural compounds and synthetic material systems. We further introduce various experimental techniques to probe TSC, focusing on how a system is identified as a TSC candidate, and why a conclusive answer is often challenging to draw. We conclude by calling for new experimental signatures and stronger computational support to accelerate the search for new TSC candidates.Comment: 42 pages, 6 figure

Authors: Li, YW; Zheng, HJ; Fang, YQ; Zhang, DQ; Chen, YJ

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Nature Research
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 2874-2874
• Article number: 2874
• Publication date: 2021-05-17
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23076-1
• EISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• Language: English
• Keywords: Physics; Electronic structure; Topology (electrical circuits); Topological insulator; Nanotechnology; Condensed matter physics; Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy; Photoemission spectroscopy; Materials science; Graphene; Heterojunction; MAJORANA; Superconductivity; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy