Charge-Impurity Effects in Hybrid Majorana Nanowires

The authors address a critical roadblock in the development of topological qubits: charge impurities within semiconductor-superconductor hybrid structures. Majorana zero modes may occur in such nanowires and hold promise as the building blocks of topological quantum computers, but disorder in the system can destroy these modes. This work shows that charge impurities within the semiconductor lead to serious complications, with direct implications for the development of Majorana-based qubits. Upper limits are found for the level of charge-impurity density that still allows Majorana zero modes to emerge, providing clear direction for what needs to be done to achieve real-world progress.