Effect of impurities and disorder on the braiding dynamics of Majorana zero modes

Cole Peeters, Themba Hodge, Eric Mascot, Stephan Rachel

Published 2024-10-09Version 1

Impurities and random disorder are known to affect topological superconducting phases and their Majorana zero modes (MZMs). In particular, it is a common assumption that disorder negatively influences the braiding dynamics of MZMs. Recently, it was shown, however, that random disorder can also stabilize or even increase topological phases. Here, we investigate quantitatively how a single impurity can lead to braiding errors. We show that the impurity increases, in most scenarios, the dynamical hybridization of the MZMs, reducing the braiding performance. In addition, we show how random disorder, i.e., impurities on all lattice sites but with different strengths, affects braiding. As for the static case, we observe a window of opportunity where random disorder decreases the average energy of a braid, and thus improves braiding outcomes. This window of opportunity is, however, limited due to an increase of diabatic effects in the presence of disorder. Nevertheless and contrary to physical intuition, disorder can in certain situations be beneficial and improve braiding outcomes.