Jason Alicea
California Institute of Technology, USA
Date
15 May 2013
Host
Sebastian Huber
Title
The Discovery of Majorana Fermions in Condensed Matter?
Abstract
The 1937 theoretical discovery of Majorana fermions (particles that are their own anti-particles) has since impacted diverse problems ranging from neutrino physics and dark matter searches to the quantum Hall effect and superconductivity. This talk will survey recent revolutionary advances in the condensed matter pursuit of these elusive objects. In particular, I will discuss new ways of “engineering” Majorana platforms using exceedingly simple building blocks, along with pioneering experiments that have made impressive progress towards realizing Majorana fermions. These developments mark the first steps of a fascinating research program that could eventually overcome one of the grand challenges in the field - the synthesis of a scalable quantum computer.