In my thesis I study Majorana fermions from three different perspectives. The first one corresponds to non-interacting Majorana fermions that, however, pose non-trivial topological properties. The second one corresponds to strongly interacting Majoranas and the third to relic neutrinos. No one knows…

Majorana fermions in superconductors are the subgap quasiparticle excitations that are their own antiparticles.

Promotor: C.W.J. Beenakker, Co-Promotor: A.R. Akhmerov

The thesis mainly contributes to the characterization of Majorana fermions as they appear in the Condensed Matter context.

Promotor: C.W.J. Beenakker, Co-promotor: M.T. Wimmer

Majorana particles have been getting bad publicity: a claimed discovery in ultracold nanowires had to be retracted. Now Leiden physicists open up a new door to detecting Majoranas in a different experimental system, the Fu-Kane heterostructure, they announce in Physical Review Letters.

Professor Carlo Beenakker has been awarded a FOM Projectruimte subsidy to build a theoretical model of a majorana gun, a very promising instrument for quantum computers.

Majorana meets a mermaid

Theoretical physicist Carlo Beenakker has been awarded a €2m Advanced Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). He will use this to try to create the ideal building blocks for a quantum computer: ‘braided’ Majorana fermions. An ambitious project that may just lead to a major breakthrough.

Promotor: Prof.dr. C.W.J. Beenakker

This thesis covers various applications of topology in condensed matter physics and quantum information.

A couple of years ago, theoretical physicist Carlo Beenakker tracked down the Majorana particles and inspired Leo Kouwenhoven from TU Delft to try to create them in a superconducting nano-structure. He succeeded in doing so in 2012, and the news made headlines around the world. But a lot of work still…

Bernard van Heck has won the Christiaan Huygens Prize 2016 for his Leiden PhD research on electrical circuits for quantum computers. On behalf of the KNAW, the Dutch minister of Education, Culture and Science awards this prize annually to a researcher who has made an innovative contribution to scien…

The quantum nature of matter and light has grown into a broad and fruitful research field for theorists and experimentalists alike. It combines foundational research with toward applications, the most well known of which is the quantum computer.

Promotie

The worldwide race to the quantum computer is in full swing. This computer can take on computing tasks that we can only dream of today, such as finding proteins that can be used as medicines in seconds flat. Leiden physicists have discovered how the Majorana particle can be used as a building block…

Promotie

In this thesis we study quantum transport phenomena on the nanometer scale, in two classes of materials: topological insulators with induced superconductivity and graphene superlattices.

The standard approach to build a quantum computer with Majoranas as building blocks is to convert them into qubits. However, a promising application of quantum computing—quantum chemistry—would require these qubits to be converted again into so-called fermions. Physicists from Leiden and Delft suggest…

Promotor: C. W. J. Beenakker, Yu. V. Nazarov, Co-promotor: J. Tworzydlo

Our world is shrinking, or at least our electronic devices are. From PCs to mobile phones: everything is smaller and thinner. The smaller the chip, the better it can conduct electricity and pass on information.

The European Research Commission (ERC) has awarded Advanced Grants to two Leiden researchers. Joke Meijer will be researching the effect of the biological clock on our health and Carlo Beenakker will be looking for Majorana fermions in superconductors.

With a pioneering project like the quantum computer, it’s a good idea not to place all your bets on a single horse. In Leiden’s Quantum Optics research group, instead of working on a Majorana-based qubit, people are working on a qubit based on an ‘artificial atom’. If that becomes the basis of the quantum…

On 15 January, the winner of the famed LION Image Award will be announced. Submissions ranged from the famous 3d printed microboat to an eerily abstract graph depicting a Majorana fermion.

The annual LION Image award goes to the 30 micrometer long 3D printed microboat image that went viral earlier in October 2020, submitted by Rachel Doherty of the Daniela Kraft lab.

Theoretical physicists research a special class of particles; Weyl fermions. They have found them to exhibit paradoxical behavior, in contradiction to a thirty-year old fundamental theory in electromagnetism. A possible application is a new kind of electronics—spintronics. Publication in Physical Review…

Lezing

An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2019, as well as special appointments and royal distinctions.

The worldwide race to the quantum computer is in full swing. This computer can bring about a breakthrough in discovering medicines and new materials. Leiden researchers, together with the TU Delft, are taking part in the race. There is now a dossier online about their work.

Lezing

With a call for dialogue and collaboration, vice dean Bart de Smit kicked off the new academic year for the Faculty of Science on Tuesday 3 September. Theoretical physicist Carlo Beenakker outlined the possibilities of quantum as a disruptive technology.

The Joan Van der Waals colloquium is an ongoing bi-weekly lecture series.

Many of our staff and students have won prizes over the past year. Others have been awarded a subsidy, or, because of their eminence in their field, they have been appointed member of an academic society or have taken on a position in the community. Reasons enough to be proud of them and to include…