• DOI:10.1103/PhysRevX.4.011036
• Corpus ID: 36685903

Universal topological quantum computation from a superconductor/Abelian quantum Hall heterostructure

@article{Mong2013UniversalTQ,
  title={Universal topological quantum computation from a superconductor/Abelian quantum Hall heterostructure},
  author={Roger S. K. Mong and David J. Clarke and Jason Alicea and Netanel H. Lindner and Paul Fendley and C. Nayak and Yuval Oreg and Ady Stern and Erez Berg and Kirill Shtengel and Matthew P A Fisher},
  journal={arXiv: Strongly Correlated Electrons},
  year={2013},
  pages={011036}
}

• R. Mong, D. Clarke, +8 authors M. Fisher
• Published 16 July 2013
• Physics
• arXiv: Strongly Correlated Electrons

Non-Abelian anyons promise to reveal spectacular features of quantum mechanics that could ultimately provide the foundation for a decoherence-free quantum computer. A key breakthrough in the pursuit of these exotic particles originated from Read and Green's observation that the Moore-Read quantum Hall state and a (relatively simple) two-dimensional p+ip superconductor both support so-called Ising non-Abelian anyons. Here we establish a similar correspondence between the Z_3 Read-Rezayi quantum Hall state and a novel two-dimensional superconductor in which charge-2e Cooper pairs are built from fractionalized quasiparticles. In particular, both phases harbor Fibonacci anyons that---unlike Ising anyons---allow for universal topological quantum computation solely through braiding. Using a variant of Teo and Kane's construction of non-Abelian phases from weakly coupled chains, we provide a blueprint for such a superconductor using Abelian quantum Hall states interlaced with an array of superconducting islands. Fibonacci anyons appear as neutral deconfined particles that lead to a two-fold ground-state degeneracy on a torus. In contrast to a p+ip superconductor, vortices do not yield additional particle types yet depending on non-universal energetics can serve as a trap for Fibonacci anyons. These results imply that one can, in principle, combine well-understood and widely available phases of matter to realize non-Abelian anyons with universal braid statistics. Numerous future directions are discussed, including speculations on alternative realizations with fewer experimental requirements.