Half-integer charge injection by a Josephson junction without excess noise

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.045431

A Josephson junction in a topological superconductor can inject a charge e/2 into a normal-metal contact, carried by chiral Majorana edge modes. Here, we address the question whether this half-integer charge is a sharp observable, without quantum fluctuations. Because the Majorana modes are gapless, they support charge fluctuations in equilibrium at zero temperature. But we find that the excess noise introduced out of equilibrium by the e/2 charge transfer vanishes. We discuss a strategy to reduce the equilibrium fluctuations, by means of a heavy-tailed time-dependent detection efficiency, to achieve a nearly noiseless half-integer charge transfer.