Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen
TT 55: Topology and symmetry protected materials & Topological insulators (joint session O/HL/TT)
TT 55.1: Talk
Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 15:00–15:15, HSZ/0401
Majorana or Not? An Insight from Atomic-Scale Shot-Noise — •Abhishek Maiti1, Genda Gu2, and Freek Massee1 — 1Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91405, Orsay, France — 2Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA
The search for non-abelian states of matter has become a central theme of modern quantum material research. Notably, Majorana zero modes are of special interest, as they can serve as the foundation for topological qubits. A robust zero-bias conductance peak, observed in scanning tunneling spectra, is often regarded as the primary signature of a Majorana zero mode. Yet similar features can also arise from trivial bound states, raising a long-standing challenge of how to distinguish a genuine Majorana from imposters. In my talk, I will address this problem with a new approach, atomic-scale shot-noise spectroscopy, that goes beyond conductance measurements. Through a detailed investigation on multiple defect- and vortex-bound zero-bias states in the widely studied (putative) topological superconductor Fe(Se,Te), I will show that while differential conductance measurements might sometimes fail to detect an imposter Majorana state locally, noise measurements consistently provide a conclusive diagnostic, offering a powerful complementary probe. Looking ahead, this technique can be applied to other reported platforms to verify whether their Majorana-like signature in tunneling conductance can pass the shot-noise test.
Keywords: Majorana Zero Modes; Topological Qubits; Scanning Tunneling Microscopy; Shot Noise Spectroscopy