Majorana bound states (MBSs), theoretically appearing in topological superconductors, are the best candidates for constructing topological qubits. These Majorana qubits are not only topologically protected due to their topological origin, but also the qubit gates based on braiding operations are topologically protected, making them perfect building blocks for fault-tolerant quantum computation. The key to Majorana qubit is braiding of MBSs. The straightforward way of braiding is to move MBSs around each other. However, this is extremely challenging as it requires precise control of gate tuning and is highly demanding for material and fabrication innovations. More importantly, moving MBSs exposes them to thermal noise that is difficult to correct for Majorana qubits. The light in the tunnel is recent introducing of measurement-based braiding, achieving braiding by applying different projective measurements without moving MBSs, which considerably reduces the technical barriers and makes Majorana qubits and their qubit gates within reach. In this talk, I will first introduce MBSs and topological quantum computation before reviewing their experimental implementation in hybrid semiconductor-superconductor nanowire systems. Then, I will go through some proposed experiments for demonstrating braiding operations with a focus on the measurement-based scheme and its current status for creating Majorana qubits. I will take the last part of this talk to elaborate on my future research plans of how to approach Majorana qubits and fault-tolerant quantum computation.
 

Dr. Kun Zuo is a postdoctoral research fellow at CEMS, RIKEN, Japan, where he focuses on integrating multiple superconducting qubits for quantum error correction and quantum computation. He majored in applied physics at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and earned his master degrees from KU Leuven and TU Delft within the framework of Erasmus Mundus master program. He then continued his study at TU Delft and obtained his Ph.D. on Majorana fermions in hybrid semiconductor-superconductor nanodevices prior to joining RIKEN. Dr. Zuo’s research interests include quantum transport in semiconducting nanowires and other low dimensional materials, Majorana bound states based topological quantum computation, and superconducting quantum error correction. He pioneered in detecting the first signature of Majorana fermions in 1D nanowire systems and was awarded the AAAS New Comb prize in 2012 for this contribution by Science.