Majorana Fermions

Majorana fermions have the unique property that they are equal to their own anti-particles. Such fermions were heavily looked for but never observed among elementary particles. Recently, Majorana fermions were proposed theoretically as quasiparticles in solid state systems with a topologically protected phase. I am working on Majorana fermions in semiconductor nanowires combined with superconductors. Majorana fermions are important in the context of topological quantum computing, which is a new paradigm that offers decoherence-free manipulation of quantum information.

Signatures of Majorana fermions in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanowire devices Science Express (2012)

My explanation of the paper for broad audience

Press coverage: MSNBC; BBC; Reuters (video); Physics World; Science; Nature

Single-electron spin qubits

Semiconductor nanowires are flexible building blocks for nanoelectronics. It has recently become possible to confine single electrons in nanowires using electric fields from nearby gates. These electrons are natural quantum bits. We operate qubits in InAs nanowires with the qubit basis being the two spin-orbital states of single electrons. These states are the hybrids of spin and motion, and we take advantage of both. We can store information in the long-living spin state, but manipulate the qubit using the orbital part of the wavefunction, by simply oscillating the electron back and forth inside the nanowire. Spin-orbit qubits are controlled by electric fields, which is the preferred method of control for nanostructures.

Putting a new spin on quantum-dot qubits Physics Today (2011)
Qubit in a Nanowire nature.com (free access) (2010)

Awards

•  Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science (2017)
•  ONR Young Investigator (2017)
•  Cottrell Scholar (2016)
•  Alfred Sloan Research Fellow (2014)
•  NSF CAREER Award (2013)
•  Newcomb Cleveland Prize (2013)