TY - JOUR
T1 - Enhanced Majorana stability in a three-site Kitaev chain
AU - Bordin, Alberto
AU - Liu, Chun Xiao
AU - Dvir, Tom
AU - Zatelli, Francesco
AU - ten Haaf, Sebastiaan L.D.
AU - van Driel, David
AU - Wang, Guanzhong
AU - Van Loo, Nick
AU - Zhang, Yining
AU - Wolff, Jan Cornelis
AU - Van Caekenberghe, Thomas
AU - Wimmer, Michael
AU - Kouwenhoven, Leo P.
AU - Mazur, Grzegorz P.
AU - More Authors, null
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Majorana zero modes are non-Abelian quasiparticles predicted to emerge at the edges of topological superconductors. A one-dimensional topological superconductor can be realized with the Kitaev model—a chain of spinless fermions coupled via p-wave superconductivity and electron hopping—which becomes topological in the long-chain limit. Here we realize a three-site Kitaev chain using semiconducting quantum dots coupled by superconducting segments in a hybrid InSb/Al nanowire. We investigate the robustness of Majorana zero modes under varying coupling strengths and electrochemical potentials, comparing two- and three-site chains realized within the same device. We observe that extending the chain to three sites enhances the stability of the zero-energy modes, especially against variations in the coupling strengths. This experiment lacks superconducting phase control, yet numerical conductance simulations with phase averaging align well with our observations. Our results demonstrate the scalability of quantum-dot-based Kitaev chains and its benefits for Majorana stability.
AB - Majorana zero modes are non-Abelian quasiparticles predicted to emerge at the edges of topological superconductors. A one-dimensional topological superconductor can be realized with the Kitaev model—a chain of spinless fermions coupled via p-wave superconductivity and electron hopping—which becomes topological in the long-chain limit. Here we realize a three-site Kitaev chain using semiconducting quantum dots coupled by superconducting segments in a hybrid InSb/Al nanowire. We investigate the robustness of Majorana zero modes under varying coupling strengths and electrochemical potentials, comparing two- and three-site chains realized within the same device. We observe that extending the chain to three sites enhances the stability of the zero-energy modes, especially against variations in the coupling strengths. This experiment lacks superconducting phase control, yet numerical conductance simulations with phase averaging align well with our observations. Our results demonstrate the scalability of quantum-dot-based Kitaev chains and its benefits for Majorana stability.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105001517182&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41565-025-01894-4
DO - 10.1038/s41565-025-01894-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105001517182
SN - 1748-3387
JO - Nature Nanotechnology
JF - Nature Nanotechnology
ER -