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arXiv:1307.3362 · Physical Review B

Many-body study of a quantum point contact in the fractional quantum Hall regime at ν=5/2

Paul Soulé, Th. Jolicœur, P. Lecheminant

Published Dec 5, 2013• 4 citations
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Abstract

We study a quantum point contact in the fractional quantum Hall regime at Landau level filling factors $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/3$ and $5/2$. By using exact diagonalizations in the cylinder geometry, we identify the edge modes in the presence of a parabolic confining potential. By changing the sign of the potential, we can access both the tunneling through the bulk of the fluid and the tunneling between spatially separated droplets. This geometry is realized in the quantum point contact geometry for two-dimensional electron gases. In the case of the model Moore-Read Pfaffian state at filling factor $\ensuremath{\nu}=5/2$, we identify the conformal towers of many-body eigenstates including the non-Abelian sector. By a Monte-Carlo technique, we compute the various scaling exponents that characterize the edge modes. In the case of hard-core interactions whose ground states are exact model wave functions, we find equality of neutral and charged velocities, both bosonic and fermionic, for the Pfaffian state.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.88.235107

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We study a quantum point contact in the fractional quantum Hall regime at Landau level filling factors \ensuremathν=1/3\ensuremath{\nu}=1/3\ensuremathν=1/3 and 5/25/25/2. By using exact diagonalizations in the cylinder geometry, we identify the edge modes in the presence of a parabolic confining potential. By changing the sign of the potential, we can access both the tunneling through the bulk of the fluid and the tunneling between spatially separated droplets. This geometry is realized in the quantum point contact geometry for two-dimensional electron gases. In the case of the model Moore-Read Pfaffian state at filling factor \ensuremathν=5/2\ensuremath{\nu}=5/2\ensuremathν=5/2, we identify the conformal towers of many-body eigenstates including the non-Abelian sector. By a Monte-Carlo technique, we compute the various scaling exponents that characterize the edge modes. In the case of hard-core interactions whose ground states are exact model wave functions, we find equality of neutral and charged velocities, both bosonic and fermionic, for the Pfaffian state.
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).
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The $\ensuremath{\nu}=5/2$ fractional quantum Hall effect is a system of intense experimental and theoretical interest as its ground state may host non-Abelian excitations, but the exact nature of the ground state is still undetermined. We present the results of an exact diagonalization study of an electron system in the disk configuration, including the effects of Landau level (LL) mixing and the finite thickness of the quantum well confining the electrons. The degeneracy between the two leading candidates for the ground state, the Pfaffian and anti-Pfaffian, is broken by interactions with a neutralizing background, in addition to the inclusion of two- and three-body interactions via LL mixing. As a result of the neutralizing background in the disk configuration, there is a phase transition from the anti-Pfaffian to the Pfaffian as LL mixing is turned on, in stark contrast to what is observed in spherical geometry. This behavior is in agreement with existing experiments, showing the appearance of the Pfaffian state at strong LL mixing before the system enters a compressible phase. The inclusion of LL mixing leads to an increased charge e/4e/4e/4 quasihole size. LL mixing interactions are also shown to overcome the effects of edge reconstruction. Due to finite thickness effects, these properties are enhanced dramatically. We also find that only the Pfaffian and anti-Pfaffian states continue to possess energy gaps at finite width, while gaps for compressible stripe states close, which is in agreement with available experimental data.
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 $\ensuremath{\nu}=5/2$.
We study fractional quantum Hall states in the cylinder geometry with open boundaries. We focus on principal fermionic $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/3$ and bosonic $\ensuremath{\nu}=1/2$ fractions in the case of hard-core interactions. The gap behavior as a function of the cylinder radius is analyzed. By adding enough orbitals to allow for edge modes, we show that it is possible to measure the Luttinger parameter of the nonchiral liquid formed by the combination of the two counterpropagating edges when we add a small confining potential. Although we measure a Luttinger exponent consistent with the chiral Luttinger theory prediction for the full hard-core interaction, the exponent remains nontrivial in the Tao-Thouless limit as well as for simple truncated states that can be constructed on the cylinder. If the radius of the cylinder is taken to infinity, the problem becomes a Tonks-Girardeau one-dimensional interacting gas in Fermi and Bose cases. Finally, we show that the Tao-Thouless and truncated states have an edge electron propagator, which decays spatially with a Fermi-liquid exponent, even if the energy spectrum can still be described by a nontrivial Luttinger parameter.
The fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) observed at half filling of the second Landau level is believed to be caused by a pairing of composite fermions captured by the Moore-Read Pfaffian wave function. The generating Hamiltonian for the Moore-Read Pfaffian is a purely three-body model that breaks particle-hole symmetry and lacks other properties, such as dominate two-body repulsive interactions, expected from a physical model of the FQHE. We use exact diagonalization to study the low-energy states of a more physical two-body generator model derived from the three-body model. We find that the two-body model exhibits the essential features expected from the Moore-Read Pfaffian: pairing, non-Abelian anyon excitations, and a neutral fermion mode. The model also satisfies constraints expected for a physical model of the FQHE at half-filling because it is short range, spatially decaying, particle-hole symmetric, and supports a roton mode with a robust spectral gap in the thermodynamic limit. Hence, this two-body model offers a bridge between artificial three-body generator models for paired states and the physical Coulomb interaction and can be used to further explore properties of non-Abelian physics in the FQHE.