In 1937, theorist Ettore Majorana proposed matter particles that are their own antiparticles. Long sought by high-energy physicists but yet to be found, it now seems that “Majorana fermions” might appear in solid-state physics as elementary excitations, known as quasiparticles. The trick is to open a superconducting gap in an unusual material called a topological insulator – a seemingly ordinary insulator whose surface, curiously, is a good conductor – by layering it with a superconductor. In Science, ALS users describe testing such an arrangement at ALS beamline 12.0.1, “a major step towards experimental discovery of Majorana fermions,” says beamline scientist Alexei Fedorov. More>
Tags: Science/Research
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