Parity-to-charge conversion for readout of topological Majorana qubits

We theoretically study a scheme to distinguish the two ground states of a one-dimensional topological superconductor, which could serve as a basis for the readout of Majorana qubits. The scheme is based on parity-to-charge conversion, i.e., the ground-state parity of the superconductor is converted to the charge occupation on a tunnel-coupled auxiliary quantum dot. We describe how certain error mechanisms degrade the quality of the parity-to-charge conversion process. We consider (i) leakage due to a strong readout tunnel pulse, (ii) incomplete charge Rabi oscillations due to slow charge noise, and (iii) charge relaxation due to phonon emission and absorption. In a case study based on InAs heterostructure device parameters, we estimate that the parity-to-charge conversion error is mainly due to slow charge noise for weak tunnel pulses and leakage for strong tunnel pulses. Journal reference: Phys. Rev. B 101, 235441 (2020).