On-line SPICE-SPIN+X Seminars

On-line Seminar: 27.05.2020 - 15:00 (CET)

Half-integer charge transfer by Majorana edge modes

Carlo Beenakker, Leiden University

A Josephson junction in a chiral p-wave superconductor can inject a charge e/2 into a normal-metal contact, carried by chiral Majorana edge modes. We address the question whether this half-integer charge is a sharp observable, without quantum fluctuations. Because the Majorana modes are gapless, they support charge fluctuations in equilibrium at zero temperature. But we find that the excess noise introduced out of equilibrium by the e/2 charge transfer vanishes. We discuss a strategy to reduce the equilibrium fluctuations, by means of a heavy-tailed time-dependent detection efficiency, to achieve a fully noiseless half-integer charge transfer.

 

 

PDF file of the talk available here

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