OREANDA-NEWS Topologically protected materials, or topological insulators, are materials with a conductive surface that can accurately determine the direction of electron flow. Due to their complex organization of energy zones, topological insulators are promising materials for the manufacture of logic blocks in quantum computers. Qubits are usually prone to instability, and topological insulators eliminate it.

A breakthrough in the promising direction was achieved by employees of New York University, who analyzed the transition from ordinary superconductivity to a new topological state. The model for the experiment was Josephson contact, created on the basis of aluminum and indium arsenide.

Physicists' calculations made it possible to get closer to obtaining two-dimensional structures in which Majorana fermions could exist — excellent candidates for the role of qubits in quantum machines. In the future, as scientists are sure, they will be able to create topological protected and scalable qubits.