Topological superconductors are predicted to harbor exotic boundary states - Majorana zero-energy modes - whose non-Abelian braiding statistics present a new paradigm for the realization of topological quantum computing. Using low-temperature scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), we here report on the direct real-space visualization of chiral Majorana edge states in a monolayer topological superconductor, a prototypical magnet-superconductor hybrid system comprised of nano-scale Fe islands of monoatomic height on a Re(0001)-O(2×1) surface. In particular, we demonstrate that interface engineering by an atomically thin oxide layer is crucial for driving the hybrid system into a topologically non-trivial state as confirmed by theoretical calculations of the topological invariant, the Chern number.
@article{arxiv.1809.04503,
title = {Atomic-Scale Interface Engineering of Majorana Edge Modes in a 2D Magnet-Superconductor Hybrid System},
author = {Alexandra Palacio-Morales and Eric Mascot and Sagen Cocklin and Howon Kim and Stephan Rachel and Dirk K. Morr and Roland Wiesendanger},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1809.04503},
year = {2019}
}