Title: Majorana Fermions: Fundamentals - Platforms - Experimental Signatures

Speaker: Panagiotis Kotetes, Associate Professor, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Time: November 2nd 10:00 am

Venue: Ladder conference room on the third floor of Research Building

Host: Prof. Xiaohui Qiu

Abstract:

The pursuit of Majorana fermions has been in the spotlight of condensed matter physics research for more than a decade now. This intense activity has so far led to a plethora of theoretical proposals designating how to engineer Majorana quasiparticles, as well as to a long list of experiments claiming their observation. Despite the tremendous progress that has been achieved in the theoretical concepts, the fabrication techniques and the measurement protocols, the unambiguous verification of Majorana quasiparticles is still lacking. In this talk, I will give a brief overview of the above efforts, and argue that the exotic properties of Majorana quasiparticles continue to provide strong incentives to keep the Majorana chase going. Besides discussing the fundamental properties of Majorana quasiparticles and the key requirements for their realization in solid state systems, the remainder of my talk will focus on Majorana platforms which rely on magnetic textures imposed on a two-dimensional superconductor. Notably, the crucial advantage of these Majorana platforms is that they allow for the detection and manipulation of Majorana quasiparticles using spin-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy.

Bio: 

Panagiotis Kotetes is since the beginning of 2019 an associate professor at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. During 2015-2018 he served as a postdoctoral researcher at the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen. His first postdoctoral appointment was at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, where he worked for five years. Panagiotis carried out his Diploma, Masters and Ph.D. studies at the National Technical University of Athens in Greece. His research interests and activity cover the topics of topological materials and nanodevices, unconventional superconductivity, exotic magnetism, and quantum computing.

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