Dr. Eytan Grosfeld 

Univ. of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Date: Nov. 14, 2010

Title: Aharonov-Casher Interferometry of non-Abelian vortices in
topological superconductors

Abstract:

In recent years there has been an intensive search for Majorana
fermion states in condensed matter systems. Predicted to be localized
on cores of vortices in certain non-conventional superconductors,
their presence is known to render the exchange statistics of bulk
vortices non-Abelian. In this talk I will present novel results about
the persistence of Majorana zero modes into insulating barriers.  Two
proposed experiments which are sensitive to the presence of Majorana
modes will be discussed: (i) An interference experiment of a vortex
beam, and, (ii) Persistent motion of a vortex. I will also discuss the
applicability of these methods to currently proposed topological
superconductors, including proximity induced superconductivity on
surface states of topological insulators, p-wave superconductors, and
semiconductor-superconductor heterostructures.