GoKawiilarising from: Microsoft Azure Quantum. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08445-2 (2025).
The detection of a topological superconducting phase—the basis of proposed topological qubits—is notoriously difficult because trivial states can mimic the signatures expected from a topological superconductor1,2,3,4,5,6. Microsoft Azure Quantum7 reported single-shot parity readout of devices that are purportedly tuned into a topological superconducting phase using their transport-based tune-up procedure known as the topological gap protocol (TGP)8. Here, however, I analyse the underlying transport data—which were not presented in ref. 7—and this analysis reveals that the claimed parity readout occurred in regions of phase space with considerable disorder that appear gapless. The absence of a robust superconducting gap would contradict the prerequisite for the interpretation in ref. 7, suggesting instead that the observed signals arise from trivial mechanisms.