SUPPORT OF THE CONFERENCE ON MAJORANA FERMIONS AND BEYOND
Abstract
We are requesting support for an international conference on “Majorana States and Beyond” to be held at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from November 4-6, 2015. Specifically, we are requesting $20K in partial support for speakers’ travel, and lodging, to encourage participation in this event. Realization of Majorana fermion (MF) states in solid-state systems is a major step towards the implementation of computing based on topological quantum degrees of freedom. Encoding information in a Majorana-state Hilbert space can take advantage of its reduced susceptibility to de-coherence, and opens up a fundamental new approach to quantum information processing based on braiding of these topological excitations. Despite the significant scientific opportunity and the potential applications of MF, research directed toward the realization, characterization, and manipulation of MFs is still in its infancy. Early reports of observations of such excitations in semiconductor nanowires were met with skepticism, since the influence of uncharacterized disorder in these systems can give rise to experimental signatures very similar to those of MFs. Even if Majorana states have been realized in semiconductor quantum wires, as seems likely, the Majorana Hilbert space in these systems is not separated from other disorderinduced low energy states and there is no obvious strategy for changing this situation. There is not only a need to create a solid-state system that can harbor energetically isolated Majorana fermions, and provide more precise experimental tools for direct observation and manipulation of states in the MF Hilbert space, but also for more precise experimental methods for direct observation of these excitations and their manipulation. After the success of the initial conference under the same title held on October 29-31, 2014 at Princeton University, New Jersey, this conference will continue the series of conferences on Majorana fermions and topological superconductivity where leading edge science will be presented. The conference will showcase new and exciting developments in the study of Majorana fermions and associated topics. The focus of the conference will allow scientists to conceive and discuss new and emerging directions of topological superconductivity with emphasis on detection and manipulation of Majorana Fermions. The invited speakers and participants will include the principal investigators, students and postdoctoral scientists supported by the recent ONR research challenge competition.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141512359
Entities
People
- Sergey M Frolov
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Pittsburgh