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arXiv:0905.3607 · Physical Review B

Quasiparticle tunneling in the Moore-Read fractional quantum Hall state

Hua Chen, Zi-Xiang Hu, Kun Yang, Edward H. Rezayi, Xin Wan

Published Dec 3, 2009• 17 citations
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Abstract

In fractional quantum Hall systems, quasiparticles of fractional charge can tunnel between the edges at a quantum point contact. Such tunneling (or backscattering) processes contribute to charge transport and provide information on both the charge and statistics of the quasiparticles involved. Here, we study quasiparticle tunneling in the Moore-Read state, in which quasiparticles of charges $e/4$ (non-Abelian) and $e/2$ (Abelian) may coexist and both contribute to edge transport. On a disk geometry, we calculate the matrix elements for $e/2$ and $e/4$ quasiholes to tunnel through the bulk of the Moore-Read state, in an attempt to understand their relative importance. We find that the tunneling amplitude for charge $e/2$ quasihole is exponentially smaller than that for charge $e/4$ quasihole, and the ratio between them can be (partially) attributed to their charge difference. We find that including long-range Coulomb interaction only has a weak effect on the ratio. We discuss briefly the relevance of these results to recent tunneling and interferometry experiments at filling factor $\ensuremath{\nu}=5/2$.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.80.235305

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In fractional quantum Hall systems, quasiparticles of fractional charge can tunnel between the edges at a quantum point contact. Such tunneling (or backscattering) processes contribute to charge transport and provide information on both the charge and statistics of the quasiparticles involved. Here, we study quasiparticle tunneling in the Moore-Read state, in which quasiparticles of charges e/4e/4e/4 (non-Abelian) and e/2e/2e/2 (Abelian) may coexist and both contribute to edge transport. On a disk geometry, we calculate the matrix elements for e/2e/2e/2 and e/4e/4e/4 quasiholes to tunnel through the bulk of the Moore-Read state, in an attempt to understand their relative importance. We find that the tunneling amplitude for charge e/2e/2e/2 quasihole is exponentially smaller than that for charge e/4e/4e/4 quasihole, and the ratio between them can be (partially) attributed to their charge difference. We find that including long-range Coulomb interaction only has a weak effect on the ratio. We discuss briefly the relevance of these results to recent tunneling and interferometry experiments at filling factor \ensuremathν=5/2\ensuremath{\nu}=5/2\ensuremathν=5/2.
We present a comprehensive numerical study of a microscopic model of the fractional quantum Hall system at filling fraction $\ensuremath{\nu}=5∕2$, based on the disk geometry. Our model includes Coulomb interaction and a semirealistic confining potential. We also mix in a three-body interaction in some cases to help elucidate the physics. We obtain a phase diagram, discuss the conditions under which the ground state can be described by the Moore-Read state, and study its competition with neighboring stripe phases. We also study quasihole excitations and edge excitations in the Moore-Read-like state. From the evolution of the edge spectrum, we obtain the velocities of the charge and neutral edge modes, which turn out to be very different. This separation of velocities is a source of decoherence for a non-Abelian quasihole and/or quasiparticle (with charge $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}e∕4$) when propagating at the edge; using numbers obtained from a specific set of parameters, we estimate the decoherence length to be around $4\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$. This sets an upper bound for the separation of the two point contacts in a double point-contact interferometer, designed to detect the non-Abelian nature of such quasiparticles. We also find a state that is a potential candidate for the recently proposed anti-Pfaffian state. We find the speculated anti-Pfaffian state is favored in weak confinement (smooth edge), while the Moore-Read Pfaffian state is favored in strong confinement (sharp edge).
Scaling analysis of the quasiparticle tunneling in the Zk{\mathbb Z}_kZk​ parafermion states
Quasiparticle tunneling between two counter-propagating edges through point contacts could provide information on the statistics of the quasiparticles. Previous study on a disk found a scaling behavior by varying the tunneling distance. It was found that in the limit with zero tunneling distance, the Abelian quasiparticles tunneling obey the scaling analysis while the non-Abelian quasiparticles exhibit some non-trivial behaviors on the scaling exponents. Because of the limitation of disk geometry, we put the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state on the surface of a cylinder which has a larger tunable tunneling distance than that on disk by varying the aspect ratio γγγ. We analyze the scaling behavior of the quasiholes, especially the non-Abelian quasiholes in the Read-Rezayi Zk{\mathbb Z}_kZk​ parafermion states. We aim to address the existance of the anomalous correction of the scaling parameter in the long tunneling distance.
We study the scaling behavior in the tunneling amplitude when quasiparticles tunnel along a straight path between the two edges of a fractional quantum Hall annulus. Such scaling behavior originates from the propagation and tunneling of charged quasielectrons and quasiholes in an effective field analysis. In the limit when the annulus deforms continuously into a quasi-one-dimensional (1D) ring, we conjecture the exact functional form of the tunneling amplitude for several cases, which reproduces the numerical results in finite systems exactly. The results for Abelian quasiparticle tunneling is consistent with the scaling analysis; this allows for the extraction of the conformal dimensions of the quasiparticles. We analyze the scaling behavior of both Abelian and non-Abelian quasiparticles in the Read–Rezayi -parafermion states. Interestingly, the non-Abelian quasiparticle tunneling amplitudes exhibit non-trivial k -dependent corrections to the scaling exponent.
We study the ground state and low-energy excitations of fractional quantum Hall systems on a disk at a filling fraction nu = 5/2, with Coulomb interaction and a background confining potential. We find the Moore-Read ground state is stable within a finite but narrow window in parameter space. The corresponding low-energy excitations contain a fermionic branch and a bosonic branch, with widely different velocities. A short-range repulsive potential can stabilize a charge +e/4 quasihole at the center, leading to a different edge excitation spectrum due to the change of boundary conditions for Majorana fermions, clearly indicating the non-Abelian nature of the quasihole.
The elementary low energy excitations in the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) regime are known to be fractionally charged quasiparticles and quasiholes. This work focusses on quasiholes in a finite system of a few electrons treated by exact numerical diagonalization. Recent experimental [Chung et al., PRB 67, 201104 (2003)] and theoretical [Kane, Fisher, PRB 67, 045307 (2003)] work on quantum point contacts in the FQH regime showed strong evidence for single quasiparticle tunneling to be forbidden at low temperature. We want to gain insight into such constricted FQH systems by a numerical approach. Initially the basics of numerically treating a system in rectangular geometry and procedures to insert a quasihole excitation are presented. The excitations' stability and fractional charge is confirmed for different interactions. The question of quasihole tunneling is approached in two different systems: 1. A system posessing bound, localized states of a quasihole shows evidence for tunnel coupling between these states to exist. 2. Different potential forms to model a quantum point contact are investigated and the injection of a single quasihole near the constriction is surveyed in the system's time evolution.
The quasiparticles in quantum Hall liquids carry fractional charge and obey fractional quantum statistics. Of particular recent interest are those with non-Abelian statistics, since their braiding properties could, in principle, be used for robust coding of quantum information. There is already a good theoretical understanding of quasiholes in both Abelian and non-Abelian quantum Hall states. Here we develop conformal field theory methods that allow for an equally precise description of quasielectrons and explicitly construct two- and four-quasielectron excitations of the non-Abelian Moore-Read state.