No Arabic abstract
Using a time-resolved phonon absorption technique, we have measured the specific heat of a two-dimensional electron system in the fractional quantum Hall effect regime. For filling factors $ u = 5/3, 4/3, 2/3, 3/5, 4/7, 2/5$ and 1/3 the specific heat displays a strong exponential temperature dependence in agreement with excitations across a quasi-particle gap. At filling factor $ u = 1/2$ we were able to measure the specific heat of a composite fermion system for the first time. The observed linear temperature dependence on temperature down to $T = 0.14$ K agrees well with early predictions for a Fermi liquid of composite fermions.
Specific heat has had an important role in the study of superfluidity and superconductivity, and could provide important information about the fractional quantum Hall effect as well. However, traditional measurements of the specific heat of a two-dimensional electron gas are difficult due to the large background contribution of the phonon bath, even at very low temperatures. Here, we report measurements of the specific heat per electron in the second Landau level by measuring the thermalization time between the electrons and phonons. We observe activated behaviour of the specific heat of the 5/2 and 7/3 fractional quantum Hall states, and extract the entropy by integrating over temperature. Our results are in excellent agreement with previous measurements of the entropy via longitudinal thermopower. Extending the technique to lower temperatures could lead to detection of the non-Abelian entropy predicted for bulk quasiparticles at 5/2 filling
The fractional quantum Hall state (FQHS) observed at a half-filled Landau level in an interacting two-dimensional electron system (2DES) is among the most exotic states of matter as its quasiparticles are expected to be Majoranas with non-Abelian statistics. We demonstrate here the unexpected presence of such a state in a novel 2DES with a strong band-mass anisotropy. The FQHS we observe has unusual characteristics. While its Hall resistance is well-quantized at low temperatures, it exhibits highly-anisotropic in-plane transport resembling compressible stripe/nematic charge-density-wave phases. More striking, the anisotropy sets in suddenly below a critical temperature, suggesting a finite-temperature phase transition. Our observations highlight how anisotropy modifies the many-body phases of a 2DES, and should further fuel the discussion surrounding the enigmatic even-denominator FQHS.
Electron correlation in a quantum many-body state appears as peculiar scattering behaviour at its boundary, symbolic of which is Andreev reflection at a metal-superconductor interface. Despite being fundamental in nature, dictated by the charge conservation law, however, the process has had no analogues outside the realm of superconductivity so far. Here, we report the observation of an Andreev-like process originating from a topological quantum many-body effect instead of superconductivity. A narrow junction between fractional and integer quantum Hall states shows a two-terminal conductance exceeding that of the constituent fractional state. This remarkable behaviour, while theoretically predicted more than two decades ago but not detected to date, can be interpreted as Andreev reflection of fractionally charged quasiparticles. The observed fractional quantum Hall Andreev reflection provides a fundamental picture that captures microscopic charge dynamics at the boundaries of topological quantum many-body states.
Counter propagating (upstream) chiral neutral edge modes, which were predicted to be present in hole-conjugate states, were observed recently in a variety of fractional quantum Hall states (v=2/3,v=3/5,v=8/3 & v=5/2), by measuring charge noise that resulted after partitioning the neutral mode by a constriction (denoted, as NrightarrowC). Particularly noticeable was the observation of such modes in the v=5/2 fractional state - as it sheds light on the non-abelian nature of the states wavefunction. Yet, the nature of these unique, upstream, chargeless modes and the microscopic process in which they generate shot noise, are not understood. Here, we study the ubiquitous v=2/3 state and report of two main observations: First, the nature of the neutral modes was tested by colliding two modes, emanating from two opposing sources, in a narrow constriction. The resultant charge noise was consistent with local heating of the partitioned quasiparticles. Second, partitioning of a downstream charge mode by a constriction gave birth to a dual process, namely, the appearance of an upstream neutral mode (CrightarrowN). In other words, splitting hole conjugated type quasiparticles will lead to an energy loss and decoherence, with energy carried away by neutral modes.
We have experimentally identified fractional quasiparticle creation in a tunneling process through a local fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state. The local FQH state is prepared in a low-density region near a quantum point contact (QPC) in an integer quantum Hall (IQH) system. Shot-noise measurements reveal a clear transition from elementary-charge tunneling at low bias to fractional-charge tunneling at high bias. The fractional shot noise is proportional to T1(1 ? T1) over a wide range of T1, where T1 is the transmission probability of the IQH edge channel. This binomial distribution indicates that fractional quasiparticles emerge from the IQH state to be transmitted through the local FQH state. The study of this tunneling process will enable us to elucidate the dynamics of Laughlin quasiparticles in FQH systems.