Abstract:
Majorana fermions are particles identical to their own antiparticles. For almost two decades, topological superconductors have gained immense attention in modern quantum condensed matter research, as they offer an elegant platform for hosting Majorana zero modes (MZMs), that are emergent zero-energy quasi-particle excitations at the boundaries. These MZMs, renowned for their non-Abelian braiding statistics, have been proposed to form the backbone of topological quantum computation. In this pedagogical talk, I shall first discuss the foundational theoretical framework of the Kitaev model based on one-dimensional (1D) p-wave superconductors, elegant setups including experimentally realizable 1D Rashba nanowires proximitized to s-wave superconductors with an applied Zeeman field and 1D helical Shiba chains, formed by magnetic adatoms fabricated on s-wave superconducting substrates, emerge as intriguing experimental setups for exploring topological superconductivity hosting MZMs in a 1D platform. Then I shall discuss some of our recent theoretical proposals exploring a feasible route to engineer hierarchy of topological superconductivity (first and second order) in two dimensions based on magnet-superconductor heterostructures.
22/10/2026