Using Topology to Build a Better Qubit

Charles M. Marcus
Microsoft, USA & University of Copenhagen, DK

This talk will describe an adventure currently underway to coax into existence excitations (particles) that have non-Abelian braiding statistics—something yet unseen in the physical world—and to not stop there, but to try to employ these new excitations, Majorana zero modes, for a topological quantum computing. Which is more challenging: the mathematics of computing by braiding particles? The material science of creating hybrid materials that support Majorana modes? The nanotechnology of fabricating the devices? The condensed matter physics of producing them in the lab? The electrical engineering of controlling and reading out their state? The software to control the electronics on submicrosecond timescales? This talk will try to cover a small amount of each of these aspects, to convey the sense of complexity of quantum computing generally.