Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Non-Majorana states yield nearly quantized conductance in proximatized nanowires

Nature Physics volume 17, pages 482–488 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Semiconductor nanowires with proximity-induced superconductivity are leading contenders for manifesting Majorana fermions in condensed matter1,2,3,4,5. However, unambiguous detection of these quasiparticles is controversial6, and one proposed method is to show that the peak in the conductance at zero applied bias is quantized to the value of 2e2/h (refs. 7,8,9,10). This has been reported previously11, but only by probing one end of the device. Yet, if peaks come from Majorana modes, they should be observed at both ends simultaneously. Here we fabricate devices that feature tunnel probes on both ends of a nanowire and observe peaks that are close to the quantized value. These peaks evolve with the tunnel barrier strength and magnetic field in a way that is consistent with Majorana zero modes. However, we only find nearly quantized zero-bias peaks localized to one end of the nanowire, while conductance dips are observed for the same parameters at the other end. We also identify delocalized states near zero magnetic field and at higher electron density, which is not in the basic Majorana regime. These results enable us to lay out procedures for assessing the non-locality of subgap wavefunctions and provide a classification of nanowire bound states based on their localization.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Three-terminal nanowire device and basic characterizations.
Fig. 2: Nearly quantized ZBCP on the left side.
Fig. 3: Absence of zero-bias peak on the right side.
Fig. 4: Localized and delocalized states.
Fig. 5: Accidentally correlated ZBCPs from both sides.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

An extended curated data ontology including all data within this paper and data on other three-terminal devices is provided on Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3958243). An interactive Jupyter notebook containing data in this paper is on GitHub (https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/frolovgroup/Quantized-Zero-Bias-Peaks-from-trivial-states-in-Majorana-nanowire-devices/329582d89729de51f7b0177d2774bd1bc3e75e53).

References

  1. Oreg, Y., Refael, G. & von Oppen, F. Helical liquids and Majorana bound states in quantum wires. Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 177002 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Lutchyn, R. M., Sau, J. D. & Das Sarma, S. Majorana fermions and a topological phase transition in semiconductor–superconductor heterostructures. Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 077001 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Mourik, V. et al. Signatures of Majorana fermions in hybrid superconductor–semiconductor nanowire devices. Science 336, 1003–1007 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Albrecht, S. M. et al. Exponential protection of zero modes in Majorana islands. Nature 531, 206–209 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Deng, M. T. et al. Majorana bound state in a coupled quantum-dot hybrid-nanowire system. Science 354, 1557–1562 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Frolov, S., Manfra, M. & Sau, J. Topological superconductivity in hybrid devices. Nat. Phys. 16, 718–724 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Sengupta, K., Žutić, I., Kwon, H.-J., Yakovenko, V. M. & Das Sarma, S. Midgap edge states and pairing symmetry of quasi-one-dimensional organic superconductors. Phys. Rev. B 63, 144531 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Law, K. T., Lee, P. A. & Ng, T. K. Majorana fermion induced resonant Andreev reflection. Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 237001 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Flensberg, K. Tunneling characteristics of a chain of Majorana bound states. Phys. Rev. B 82, 180516 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Wimmer, M., Akhmerov, A. R., Dahlhaus, J. P. & Beenakker, C. W. J. Quantum point contact as a probe of a topological superconductor. New J. Phys. 13, 053016 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Nichele, F. et al. Scaling of Majorana zero-bias conductance peaks. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 136803 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Klitzing, K. V., Dorda, G. & Pepper, M. New method for high-accuracy determination of the fine-structure constant based on quantized Hall resistance. Phys. Rev. Lett. 45, 494–497 (1980).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. van Wees, B. J. et al. Quantized conductance of point contacts in a two-dimensional electron gas. Phys. Rev. Lett. 60, 848–850 (1988).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. van Houten, H. & Beenakker, C. W. J. Quantum point contacts. Phys. Today 49, 22 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Klinovaja, J., Schmidt, M. J., Braunecker, B. & Loss, D. Helical modes in carbon nanotubes generated by strong electric fields. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 156809 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Quay, C. et al. Observation of a one-dimensional spin–orbit gap in a quantum wire. Nat. Phys. 6, 336–339 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Nowack, K. C. et al. Imaging currents in HgTe quantum wells in the quantum spin Hall regime. Nat. Mater. 12, 787–791 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. König, M. et al. Quantum spin Hall insulator state in HgTe quantum wells. Science 318, 766–770 (2007).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Read, N. & Green, D. Paired states of fermions in two dimensions with breaking of parity and time-reversal symmetries and the fractional quantum Hall effect. Phys. Rev. B 61, 10267–10297 (2000).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Moore, G. & Read, N. Nonabelions in the fractional quantum Hall effect. Nucl. Phys. B 360, 362–396 (1991).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  21. Nayak, C., Simon, S. H., Stern, A., Freedman, M. & Das Sarma, S. Non-Abelian anyons and topological quantum computation. Rev. Mod. Phys. 80, 1083–1159 (2008).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  22. Pientka, F., Kells, G., Romito, A., Brouwer, P. W. & von Oppen, F. Enhanced zero-bias Majorana peak in the differential tunneling conductance of disordered multisubband quantum-wire/superconductor junctions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 227006 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Prada, E., San-Jose, P. & Aguado, R. Transport spectroscopy of ns nanowire junctions with Majorana fermions. Phys. Rev. B 86, 180503 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Lin, C.-H., Sau, J. D. & Das Sarma, S. Zero-bias conductance peak in Majorana wires made of semiconductor/superconductor hybrid structures. Phys. Rev. B 86, 224511 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Rainis, D., Trifunovic, L., Klinovaja, J. & Loss, D. Towards a realistic transport modeling in a superconducting nanowire with Majorana fermions. Phys. Rev. B 87, 024515 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Liu, C.-X., Sau, J. D. & Das Sarma, S. Role of dissipation in realistic Majorana nanowires. Phys. Rev. B 95, 054502 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Pan, H., Cole, W. S., Sau, J. D. & Das Sarma, S. Generic quantized zero-bias conductance peaks in superconductor–semiconductor hybrid structures. Phys. Rev. B 101, 024506 (2020).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Nadj-Perge, S. et al. Spectroscopy of spin–orbit quantum bits in indium antimonide nanowires. Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 166801 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Středa, P. & Šeba, P. Antisymmetric spin filtering in one-dimensional electron systems with uniform spin–orbit coupling. Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 256601 (2003).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Lee, E. J. et al. Spin-resolved Andreev levels and parity crossings in hybrid superconductor–semiconductor nanostructures. Nat. Nanotechnol. 9, 79–84 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. Kells, G., Meidan, D. & Brouwer, P. W. Near-zero-energy end states in topologically trivial spin–orbit coupled superconducting nanowires with a smooth confinement. Phys. Rev. B 86, 100503 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. Woods, B. D., Chen, J., Frolov, S. M. & Stanescu, T. D. Zero-energy pinning of topologically trivial bound states in multiband semiconductor–superconductor nanowires. Phys. Rev. B 100, 125407 (2019).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. Vuik, A., Nijholt, B., Akhmerov, A. R. & Wimmer, M. Reproducing topological properties with quasi-Majorana states. SciPost Phys. 7, 061 (2019).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  34. Moore, C., Zeng, C., Stanescu, T. D. & Tewari, S. Quantized zero-bias conductance plateau in semiconductor–superconductor heterostructures without topological Majorana zero modes. Phys. Rev. B 98, 155314 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  35. Motrunich, O., Damle, K. & Huse, D. A. Griffiths effects and quantum critical points in dirty superconductors without spin–rotation invariance: one-dimensional examples. Phys. Rev. B 63, 224204 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. Brouwer, P. W., Duckheim, M., Romito, A. & von Oppen, F. Topological superconducting phases in disordered quantum wires with strong spin–orbit coupling. Phys. Rev. B 84, 144526 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  37. Brouwer, P. W., Duckheim, M., Romito, A. & von Oppen, F. Probability distribution of Majorana end-state energies in disordered wires. Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 196804 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  38. Sau, J. D. & Das Sarma, S. Density of states of disordered topological superconductor–semiconductor hybrid nanowires. Phys. Rev. B 88, 064506 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  39. Pikulin, D. I., Dahlhaus, J. P., Wimmer, M., Schomerus, H. & Beenakker, C. W. J. A zero-voltage conductance peak from weak antilocalization in a Majorana nanowire. New J. Phys. 14, 125011 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  40. Chen, J. et al. Ubiquitous non-Majorana zero-bias conductance peaks in nanowire devices. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 107703 (2019).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  41. Chen, J. et al. Experimental phase diagram of zero-bias conductance peaks in superconductor/semiconductor nanowire devices. Sci. Adv. 3, e1701476 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  42. Lutchyn, R. M. et al. Majorana zero modes in superconductor–semiconductor heterostructures. Nat. Rev. Mater. 3, 52–68 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  43. Stern, A. & Lindner, N. H. Topological quantum computation—from basic concepts to first experiments. Science 339, 1179–1184 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  44. Badawy, G. et al. High mobility stemless InSb nanowires. Nano Lett. 19, 3575–3582 (2019).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  45. Rokhinson, L. P., Liu, X. & Furdyna, J. K. The fractional a.c. Josephson effect in a semiconductor–superconductor nanowire as a signature of Majorana particles. Nat. Phys. 8, 795–799 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Deng, M. T. et al. Anomalous zero-bias conductance peak in a Nb-InSb nanowire–Nb hybrid device. Nano Lett. 12, 6414–6419 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  47. Das, A. et al. Zero-bias peaks and splitting in an Al–InAs nanowire topological superconductor as a signature of Majorana fermions. Nat. Phys. 8, 887–895 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Churchill, H. O. H. et al. Superconductor-nanowire devices from tunneling to the multichannel regime: zero-bias oscillations and magnetoconductance crossover. Phys. Rev. B 87, 241401 (2013).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  49. Deng, M.-T. et al. Nonlocality of Majorana modes in hybrid nanowires. Phys. Rev. B 98, 085125 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  50. Anselmetti, G. L. R. et al. End-to-end correlated subgap states in hybrid nanowires. Phys. Rev. B 100, 205412 (2019).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  51. Gramich, J., Baumgartner, A. & Schönenberger, C. Andreev bound states probed in three-terminal quantum dots. Phys. Rev. B 96, 195418 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  52. Cohen, Y. et al. Nonlocal supercurrent of quartets in a three-terminal Josephson junction. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 115, 6991–6994 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank S. Gazibegovic for assistance with growing nanowires. This work was supported by NSF PIRE-1743717, NSF DMR-1906325, ONR and ARO.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    P. Yu, J. Chen, M. Gomanko & S. M. Frolov

  2. Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    G. Badawy & E. P. A. M. Bakkers

  3. Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), RIKEN, Saitama, Japan

    K. Zuo

  4. Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technologies, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    V. Mourik

Authors
  1. P. Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M. Gomanko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. G. Badawy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. E. P. A. M. Bakkers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. K. Zuo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. V. Mourik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. S. M. Frolov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

G.B. and E.P.A.M.B. provided the nanowires. P.Y. and J.C. fabricated the devices. P.Y. and M.G. performed the measurements. P.Y., K.Z., V.M. and S.M.F. analysed the results and wrote the manuscript, with contributions from all of the authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. M. Frolov.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Peer review information Nature Physics thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Three terminal measurement setups, extended data of the tunnel barrier gate dependence of the ZBCP and the effect of the contact resistance.

a, Schematics of the device and measurement setups. Red arrows indicate the direction of dc current flow for positive bias. The source-drain voltage is applied through the superconducting contact, current and differential conductance are measured simultaneously at two normal contacts. The two wider tunnel gates are connected together as T3. b, Simplified measurement circuit diagram representing all elements of the circuit as resistors. Rfilters is the resistance of RC filters and Rim is the input impedance of the current amplifier. Dashed box indicates on chip elements. The nanowire segment in contact with NbTiN is a multi-terminal conductor which can be fully characterized by a resistance tensor, R\({\,}_{{\rm{Nanowire}}}\), which is the resistance of the nanowire segment between the normal contacts. Semiconductor-normal metal contact resistances are indicated by R\({\,}_{{\rm{L}}^{\prime} }\) and R\({\,}_{{\rm{R}}^{\prime} }\). The exact values of contact resistances are unknown, but they can be estimated from saturation current at positive gate voltages. c and d, Differential conductance GL and GR as functions of TL voltage and source-drain voltage from the same dataset as Fig. 2(d). The gate settings are S-gate = -0.17 V and TR = -0.105 V. e, Zero bias linecuts from panel c with different R\(^{\prime}\) subtracted. When 0, 1 kΩ, 2 kΩ, 3 kΩ, 4 kΩ, 5 kΩ are subtracted (from bottom to top), the conductance plateau increases from 0.8*2e2/h to 1.1*2e2/h. f, Bias linecuts at TL= -0.05 V (yellow dashed line) from panel c and panel d show the shape of the ZBCP on the left side and absence of clear ZBCP on the right side.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Additional zero field tunnel barrier data and induced gaps.

a and b, Barrier gate scans from the left and right sides respectively, while S-gate is set to 1 V. The two sides show similar barrier gate dependence and overall transparency. Note the left side reaches 3*2e2/h at saturated regime, indicating a possible contact resistance of 3-4 kΩ. c, Pinch off traces at Vbias = 10 meV from panel a and panel b. d and e, Differential conductance GL and GR as functions of S-gate voltage and source-drain voltage, while TL = -0.015 V and TR = -0.075 V. While the barrier gates are set near the pinch off regime, the two sides have very similar induced gaps. f, Bias linecuts at S-gate = -0.75 V (yellow dashed lines) from panel d and panel e. The left side has a gap with Δ = 800 μeV and the gap on the right side is about 760 μeV. The error bar for the gap estimation is 40 μeV.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Magnetic field angle dependence of the ZBCP and subgap states on both sides.

a and b, Differential conductance GL and GR as functions of field angle and source-drain voltage when TR = -0.105 V, TL= -0.04 V and S-gate = -0.18 V. Note the contact resistance of 4 kΩ is subtracted for the left side. The field is parallel to the nanowire and perpendicular to the spin-orbit field when the field angle is zero. On the left side, the ZBCP only exists and reaches 2e2/h within a small angle around zero degree. On the right side, the subgap states are asymmetrical in field angle. Most importantly, no ZBCP is observed in the range -20 degree to 20 degree. c, Bias linecuts at 0, 4, -16 degree field angle from panel a. The ZBCP splits into two peaks when the field angle deviates from 0 degree. d, Zero bias linecuts from panel a and panel b show distinct behavior on the two sides: the zero bias conductance on the left side peaks at zero degree while the zero bias conductance on the right side remains almost unchanged.

Extended Data Fig. 4 Evolution of ZBCPs in magnetic fields.

a-j, Source-drain voltage vs. S-gate scans of the same regime of Extended Data Fig. 7(c)(d) at different fields. The gate settings are TL = -0.045 V and TR = -0.105 V. On the left side, subgap states and ZBCPs appear around B = 0.3 T. The height of the ZBCPs reaches 2e2/h at 1 T (panel g) and 1.3 T (panel i). The contact resistance of 4 kΩ is subtracted for the left side. On the right side, subgap states develop at higher fields. Most importantly, no ZBCP is observed on the right side within the field range investigated. k, Zero bias linecuts taken from Extended Data Fig. 7(e), and panels a, g, i show conductance increase with increasing magnetic field and reach 2e2/h at 1 T and 1.3 T.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Effect of TR on the left-side-only ZBCP in Fig. 3 and effect of T3.

a and b, Differential conductance GL and GR as functions of TR voltage and S-gate voltage at zero field and zero bias when TL is set to -0.04 V. This is the regime where we find the nearly quantized ZBCP on the left side in Fig. 2. The two sides show distinct states, which confirms the finding that there are only localized states in this regime. c and d, Differential conductance GL and GR as functions of source-drain voltage and TR voltage at 1 T. While the TR pinch off the right side, the ZBCP on the left side remains unchanged with conductance close to 2e2/h. Notably, there are also states near zero bias on the right side when TR is below -0.05 V. However, they never form a ZBCP. The two wider barrier gates are connected and controlled by a single voltage T3. For all other measurements in this paper, T3 is set to above 1.5 V to facilitate high transparency. Here we present the effect of T3. e and f, Differential conductance GL and GR as functions of S-gate voltage and T3 voltage at zero bias and zero magnetic field, while S-gate = 1 V, TL = -0.15 V and TR = 0.1 V. The resonances we observed in S-gate scans show no considerable gate dependence of T3, indicating the associated wavefunctions live far away from T3. T3 also tune different sets of resonances on the left and the right side, which can also be seen in the source-drain voltage vs.T3 scans (panel g and h).The gate settings are S-gate = 1 V, TL= -0.1 V and TR= 0.075 V. Those states show no considerable gate dependence on S-gate, indicating the existence of more dots above T3.

Extended Data Fig. 6 Magnetic field dependence of the subgap states for different S-gate voltages.

Magnetic field dependence of the subgap states for different S-gate voltages. Apart from the nearly quantized ZBCP at S-gate = -0.17 V (Fig. 2(a)), we also found similar ZBCPs at S-gate = -0.09 V, S-gate = -0.16 V and S-gate = -0.3 V (panels a, c and g). Only when S-gate = -0.235 V (panel e), the ZBCP is lower than 2e2/h. The tunnel gate settings are TL = -0.045 V and TR = -0.105 V. The contact resistance of 4 kΩ is subtracted for all the left side scans. On the right side, no correlated ZBCP is observed at any of these S-gate voltages.

Extended Data Fig. 7 Delocalized states vs. localized states in different S-gate regimes.

a and b, Zero bias differential conductance GL and GR as functions of TR voltage and S-gate voltage (0 V to 0.5 V) at zero magnetic field, while TL is set to -0.13 V. On the left side (panel a), delocalized states S1-S4 exhibit GR dependence, manifesting their non-local property. On the contrary, the localized state L1 shows no GR dependence as it does not change with varying GR voltage. On the right side (panel b), delocalized states S1-S4 appear at the same positions with the same gate dependence as on the left side, while their magnitudes are different on the two sides. The localized state L1 is missing on the right side, which is reasonable as this state is localized near the left side. Similarly, the localized state R1 only appears on the right side. c and d, Zero bias differential conductance GL and GR as functions of TL voltage and S-gate voltage (-0.5 V to 0 V) at B = 0 T, while TR is set to -0.15 V. This is the regime where we find ZBCPs close to quantization on the left side in Fig. 2. While there are three apparent resonances (labeled as L2, L3, L4) on the left side along the black dashed line, no similar features are observed on the right side. These scans confirm the low probability of having well separated Majorana bound states in that region, given the variety of localized and uncorrelated states within the nanowire. e and f, Source-drain voltage vs. S-gate scans along the black dashed line in panel c and panel d showing the resonances on the left side and the absence of similar features on the right side.

Extended Data Fig. 8 Extended data for regime in Fig. 5.

We have shown ZBCPs onset at similar fields on the left and right sides when S-gate is set to 0.6 V (Fig. 5). As mentioned in the main text, that correlation is not robust against variation in S-gate. In Extended Data Figs. 8 and 9 we present more data around S-gate = 0.6 V. a and b, differential conductance GL and GR as functions of TL voltage and S-gate voltage at zero field while bias is set to zero and TR = 0.09 V. The two sides show delocalized states S5 and S6, which can be seen from the two sides simultaneously and have the same gate dependence. Yellow (red) dots indicate the gate setting for Extended Data Fig. 9 (Fig. 5). c, S-gate linecuts from panel a and panel b at TL = -0.15 V. Yellow (red) dashed lines indicate the S-gate setting for Extended Data Fig. 9 (Fig. 5).

Extended Data Fig. 9 Extended data for ZBCPs in Fig. 5.

Here we present more magnetic field scans around the regime of Fig. 5 when TL = -0.15 V and TR = 0.09 V. The S-gate settings are indicated by the yellow and red dots in Extended Data Fig. 8. As shown in the left panels, the onset fields of the ZBCPs on the left side change to higher fields when S-gate is reduced. And the ZBCPs also exhibits splitting features at S-gate = 0.55 V and S-gate = 0.5 V. On the right side, however, the ZBCP onset and splitting do not generally match the left side manifestations.

Extended Data Fig. 10 Nearly-quantized ZBCP in another S-gate regime.

a and b, Differential conductance GL and GR as functions of bias voltage and magnetic field when S-gate = 1 V, TL = -0.25 V and TR = 0.05 V. This is a regime with a more positive S-gate setting than that explored in Figs. 1-3. On the left side, a ZBCP appears around B = 0.6 T and reaches 2e2/h around 0.85 T. The contact resistance of 4 kΩ is subtracted for the left side again. While there are some subgap states on the right side around similar fields, no prominent ZBCP is observed. c, Magnetic field linecuts at Vbias = 0 and Vbias = 1.5 meV from panel a. d, Bias linecuts at B= 0, 0.4 T and 0.85 T from panel a.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yu, P., Chen, J., Gomanko, M. et al. Non-Majorana states yield nearly quantized conductance in proximatized nanowires. Nat. Phys. 17, 482–488 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-01107-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-01107-w

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing