Reducing disorder in PbTe nanowires for Majorana research

Wenyu Song; Zehao Yu; Yuhao Wang; Yichun Gao; Zonglin Li; Shuai Yang; Shan Zhang; Zuhan Geng; Ruidong Li; Zhaoyu Wang; Fangting Chen; Lining Yang; Wentao Miao; Jiaye Xu; Xiao Feng; Tiantian Wang; Yunyi Zang; Lin Li; Runan Shang; Qi-Kun Xue; Ke He; Hao Zhang

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c05708

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arXiv · 2402.02132

Reducing disorder in PbTe nanowires for Majorana research

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Abstract

Material challenges are the key issue in Majorana research where surface disorder constrains device performance. Here, we tackle this challenge by embedding PbTe nanowires within a lattice-constant-matched crystal. The wire edges are shaped by self-organized growth instead of lithography, resulting in nearly-atomic-flat facets along both cross-sectional and longitudinal directions. Quantized conductance is observed at zero magnetic field with channel lengths maximally reaching 1.7 $\mu$m, significantly surpassing the state-of-the-art of III-V nanowires (an order-of-magnitude improvement compared to InSb). Coupling PbTe to a Pb film unveils a flat interface spanning microns and a large superconducting gap of 1 meV. Our result not only represents a stride toward meeting the stringent low-disorder requirement for Majoranas, but may also open the door to various hybrid quantum devices requiring a low level of disorder.

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Wenyu Song, Zehao Yu, Yuhao Wang, Yichun Gao, Zonglin Li, Shuai Yang, Shan Zhang, Zuhan Geng, Ruidong Li, Zhaoyu Wang, Fangting Chen, Lining Yang, Wentao Miao, Jiaye Xu, Xiao Feng, Tiantian Wang, Yunyi Zang, Lin Li, Runan Shang, Qi-Kun Xue, Ke He, Hao Zhang. 2024-02-03. Reducing disorder in PbTe nanowires for Majorana research. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c05708

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