Altermagnet-Superconductor Heterostructure: a Scalable Platform for Braiding of Majorana Modes

• Main Authors: Hodge, Themba, Mascot, Eric, Rachel, Stephan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 09.06.2025
• Subjects: Physics - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics; Physics - Quantum Physics; Physics - Superconductivity
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2506.08095

Topological quantum computation, featuring qubits built out of anyonic excitations known as Majorana zero modes (MZMs), have long presented an exciting pathway towards scalable quantum computation. Recently, the advent of altermagnetic materials has presented a new pathway towards localized MZMs on the boundary of two-dimensional materials, consisting of an altermagnetic film, subject to a superconducting proximity effect from a superconducting substrate. In this work, we demonstrate the possibility for an altermagnet-superconductor heterostructure, to not only harbor MZMs, but also freely manipulate their position along the topological boundary of the material, via rotation of the Néel vector. Using this mechanism, on a square platform, we utilize a time-dependent method to simulate the Z-gate via braiding, and then extend this to a larger H-junction, where we implement the $\sqrt{X}$ and $\sqrt{Z}$ gate on a single-qubit system. Further, this structure is eminently scalable to many-qubit systems, thus providing the essential ingredients towards universal quantum computation.