Development of the Scanning Majorana Microscope

The Scanning Majorana Microscope (SMM) is being developed to provide novel ways for verification of the existence of Majorana zero modes. Inspired by a variety of scanning probe methods, the SMM consists of an aluminum quantum dot fabricated on the end of a sharp glass tip. By connecting the probe to an ultrasensitive charge-sensing circuit, the counting statistics of electrons entering the quantum dot can be characterized. It has been predicted theoretically that cases with and without Majorana coupling should exhibit qualitatively different full counting statistics of charge tunneling events despite the fact that differential linear conductance might have zero-bias features in both cases. Thus this microscope represents an important tool for detecting Majoranas going beyond existing experimental probes. Fabrication and preliminary measurements of the SMM will be presented.