Contributor info: Mr Juan Daniel Torres Luna

Juan Daniel Torres Luna, Kostas Vilkelis, Antonio L. R. Manesco

SciPost Phys. 18, 062 (2025) · published 21 February 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Despite many reports of valley-related phenomena in graphene and its multilayers, current transport experiments cannot probe valley phenomena without the application of external fields. Here we propose a gate-defined valley splitter as a direct transport probe for valley phenomenon in graphene multilayers. First, we show how the device works, its magnetotransport response, and its robustness against fabrication errors. Secondly, we present two applications for valley splitters: (i) resonant tunneling of quantum dots probed by a valley splitter shows the valley polarization of dot levels; (ii) a combination of two valley splitters resolves the nature of order parameters in mesoscopic samples.

Juan Daniel Torres Luna, A. Mert Bozkurt, Michael Wimmer, Chun-Xiao Liu

SciPost Phys. Core 7, 065 (2024) · published 18 September 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Connecting quantum dots through Andreev bound states in a semiconductor-superconductor hybrid provides a platform to create a Kitaev chain. Interestingly, in a double quantum dot, a pair of poor man's Majorana zero modes can emerge when the system is fine-tuned to a sweet spot, where superconducting and normal couplings are equal in magnitude. Control of the Andreev bound states is crucial for achieving this, usually implemented by varying its chemical potential. In this work, we propose using Andreev bound states in a short Josephson junction to mediate both types of couplings, with the ratio tunable by the phase difference across the junction. Now a minimal Kitaev chain can be easily tuned into the strong coupling regime by varying the phase and junction asymmetry, even without changing the dot-hybrid coupling strength. Furthermore, we identify an optimal sweet spot at $\pi$ phase, enhancing the excitation gap and robustness against phase fluctuations. Our proposal introduces a new device platform and a new tuning method for realizing quantum-dot-based Kitaev chains.

Kostas Vilkelis, Antonio Manesco, Juan Daniel Torres Luna, Sebastian Miles, Michael Wimmer, Anton Akhmerov

SciPost Phys. 16, 135 (2024) · published 27 May 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

We propose a practical implementation of a universal quantum computer that uses local fermionic modes (LFM) rather than qubits. The device consists of quantum dots tunnel-coupled by a hybrid superconducting island and a tunable capacitive coupling between the dots. We show that coherent control of Cooper pair splitting, elastic cotunneling, and Coulomb interactions implements the universal set of quantum gates defined by Bravyi and Kitaev [Ann. Phys. 298, 210 (2002)]. Due to the similarity with charge qubits, we expect charge noise to be the main source of decoherence. For this reason, we also consider an alternative design where the quantum dots have tunable coupling to the superconductor. In this second device design, we show that there is a sweet spot for which the local fermionic modes are charge neutral, making the device insensitive to charge noise effects. Finally, we compare both designs and their experimental limitations and suggest future efforts to overcome them.

Juan Daniel Torres Luna, Sathish R. Kuppuswamy, Anton R. Akhmerov

SciPost Phys. 16, 044 (2024) · published 9 February 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Braiding of Majorana states demonstrates their non-Abelian exchange statistics. One implementation of braiding requires control of the pairwise couplings between all Majorana states in a trijunction device. To have adiabaticity, a trijunction device requires the desired pair coupling to be sufficiently large and the undesired couplings to vanish. In this work, we design and simulate a trijunction device in a two-dimensional electron gas with a focus on the normal region that connects three Majorana states. We use an optimisation approach to find the operational regime of the device in a multi-dimensional voltage space. Using the optimization results, we simulate a braiding experiment by adiabatically coupling different pairs of Majorana states without closing the topological gap. We then evaluate the feasibility of braiding in a trijunction device for different shapes and disorder strengths.