Single electron transport and possible quantum computing in 2D materials

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) materials for their versatile band structures and strictly 2D nature have attracted considerable attention over the past decade. Graphene is a robust material for spintronics owing to its weak spin-orbit and hyperfine interactions, while monolayer 2H-transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) possess a Zeeman effect-like band splitting in which the spin and valley degrees of freedom are nondegenerate. Monolayer 1T'-TMDs are 2D topological insulators and are expected to host Majorana zero modes when they are placed in contact with S-wave superconductors. Single electron transport as well as the superconductor proximity effect in these materials are viable for use in both conventional quantum computing and fault-torrent topological quantum computing. In this chapter, we review a selection of theoretical and experimental studies addressing the issues mentioned above. We will focus on: (1) the confinement and manipulation of charges in nanostructures fabricated from graphene and 2H-TMDs (2) 2D materials-based Josephson junctions for possible superconducting qubits (3) the quantum spin Hall states in 1T'-TMDs and their topological properties. We aim to outline the current challenges and suggest how future work will be geared towards developing quantum computing devices in 2D materials.