The [special characters omitted] fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) is a unique and interesting experimental and theoretical state. A great deal of experimental, theoretical and numerical work suggests that this state may support quasihole excitations with non-Abelian statistics, where the order of particle exchange influences the final state of the system. Thus, the [special characters omitted] FQHE offers a system in which the properties of the particles may be explored experimentally and theoretically. Additionally, by controlling the exchange of such particles, it is possible to create a topologically-protected quantum computer. In order to make this possible, however, we must first understand the nature of the ground state. The two leading candidates, the Moore-Read Pfaffian and the anti-Pfaffian, both support non-Abelian excitations, but there has not been a clear answer for which state is realized in experiment. In the present work, we present results of exact diagaonlization calculations which strive to answer this question using a disk geometry. What we find is that the ground state of the system is dependent upon device specific quantities and thus we may be able to engineer samples which will have specific ground state properties.
The [special characters omitted] fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) is a unique and interesting experimental and theoretical state. A great deal of experimental, theoretical and numerical work suggests that this state may support quasihole excitations with non-Abelian statistics, where the order of particle exchange influences the final state of the system. Thus, the [special characters omitted] FQHE offers a system in which the properties of the particles may be explored experimentally and theoretically. Additionally, by controlling the exchange of such particles, it is possible to create a topologically-protected quantum computer. In order to make this possible, however, we must first understand the nature of the ground state. The two leading candidates, the Moore-Read Pfaffian and the anti-Pfaffian, both support non-Abelian excitations, but there has not been a clear answer for which state is realized in experiment. In the present work, we present results of exact diagaonlization calculations which strive to answer this question using a disk geometry. What we find is that the ground state of the system is dependent upon device specific quantities and thus we may be able to engineer samples which will have specific ground state properties.
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/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.
We review some theoretical progress towards understanding the origin of the fractional quantum Hall effect at filling factor 5/2 using numerical techniques. The leading candidate thought to describe the physics is the Moore-Read Pfaffian state which supports non-abelian anyonic excitations. Interestingly, these excitations have possible applications in topologically protected quantum information processing. Specifically, we discuss how the finite-thickness of realistic quasi-two-dimensional systems stabilizes the Moore-Read Pfaffian in the fractional quantum Hall effect at 5/2 and the use of bilayer systems in the second Landau level to investigate the possible quantum phase transition between abelian and non-abelian fractional quantum Hall states.
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).
Phase Diagram of the ν=5/2 Fractional Quantum Hall Effect: Effects of Landau Level Mixing and Non-Zero Width
Interesting non-Abelian states, e.g., the Moore-Read Pfaffian and the anti-Pfaffian, offer candidate descriptions of the ν=5/2 fractional quantum Hall state. But the significant controversy surrounding the nature of the ν=5/2 state has been hampered by the fact that the competition between these and other states is affected by small parameter changes. To study the phase diagram of the ν=5/2 state we numerically diagonalize a comprehensive effective Hamiltonian describing the fractional quantum Hall effect of electrons under realistic conditions in GaAs semiconductors. The effective Hamiltonian takes Landau level mixing into account to lowest-order perturbatively in κ, the ratio of the Coulomb energy scale to the cyclotron gap. We also incorporate non-zero width w of the quantum well and sub-band mixing. We find the ground state in both the torus and spherical geometries as a function of κ and w. To sort out the non-trivial competition between candidate ground states we analyze the following 4 criteria: its overlap with trial wave functions; the magnitude of energy gaps; the sign of the expectation value of an order parameter for particle-hole symmetry breaking; and the entanglement spectrum. We conclude that the ground state is in the universality class of the Moore-Read Pfaffian state, rather than the anti-Pfaffian, for κ<κc(w), where κc(w) is a w-dependent critical value 0.6≲κc(w)≲1. We observe that both Landau level mixing and non-zero width suppress the excitation gap, but Landau level mixing has a larger effect in this regard. Our findings have important implications for the identification of non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall states.
The fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE), now entering it's fourth decade, continues to draw attention from the condensed matter community. New experiments in recent years are raising hopes that it will be possible to observe quasi-particles with non-abelian anyonic statistics. These particles could form the building blocks of a quantum computer. The quantum Hall states have topologically protected energy gaps to the low-lying set of excitations. This topological order is not a locally measurable quantity but rather a non-local object, and it is one of the keys to it's stability. From an early stage understanding of the FQHE has been facilitate by constructing trial wave functions. The topological classification of these wave functions have given further insight to the nature of the FQHE. An early, and successful, wave function construction for filling fractions ν=p/(2p+1) was that of composite fermions on planar and spherical geometries. Recently, new developments using conformal field theory have made it possible to also construct the full Haldane-Halperin hierarchy wave functions on planar and spherical geometries. In this thesis we extend this construction to a toroidal geometry, i.e. a flat surface with periodic boundary conditions. One of the defining features of topological states of matter in two dimensions is that the ground state is not unique on surfaces with non trivial topology, such as a torus. The archetypical example is the fractional quantum Hall effect, where a state at filling fraction ν=p/q, has at least a q-fold degeneracy on a torus. This has been shown explicitly for a few cases, such as the Laughlin states and the the Moore-Read states, by explicit construction of candidate electron wave functions with good overlap with numerically found states. In this thesis, we construct explicit torus wave functions for a large class of experimentally important quantum liquids, namely the chiral hierarchy states in the lowest Landau level. These states, which includes the prominently observed positive Jain sequence at filling fractions ν=p/(2p+1), are characterized by having boundary modes with only one chirality. Our construction relies heavily on previous work that expressed the hierarchy wave functions on a plane or a sphere in terms of correlation functions in a conformal field theory. This construction can be taken over to the torus when care is taken to ensure correct behaviour under the modular transformations that leave the geometry of the torus unchanged. Our construction solves the long standing problem of engineering torus wave functions for multi-component many-body states. Since the resulting expressions are rather complicated, we have carefully compared the simplest example, that of ν=2/5, with numerically found wave functions. We have found an extremely good overlap for arbitrary values of the modular parameter τ, that describes the geometry of the torus. Having explicit torus wave functions allows us to use the methods developed by Read and Read \\& Rezayi to numerically compute the quantum Hall viscosity. Hall viscosity is conjectured to be a topologically protected macroscopic transport coefficient characterizing the quantum Hall state. It is related to the shift of the same QH-fluid when it is put on a sphere. The good agreement with the theoretical prediction for the 2/5 state strongly suggests that our wave functions encodes all relevant topologically information. We also consider the Hall viscosity in the limit of a very thin torus. There we find that the viscosity changes as we approach the thin torus limit. Because of this we study the Laughlin state in that limit and see how the change in viscosity arises from a change in the Hamiltonian hopping elements. Finally we conclude that there are both qualitative and quantitative difference between the thin and the square torus. Thus, one has to be careful when interpreting results in the thin torus limit.
The fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE), now entering it's fourth decade, continues to draw attention from the condensed matter community. New experiments in recent years are raising hopes that it will be possible to observe quasi-particles with non-abelian anyonic statistics. These particles could form the building blocks of a quantum computer.The quantum Hall states have topologically protected energy gaps to the low-lying set of excitations. This topological order is not a locally measurable quantity but rather a non-local object, and it is one of the keys to it's stability. From an early stage understanding of the FQHE has been facilitate by constructing trial wave functions. The topological classification of these wave functions have given further insight to the nature of the FQHE.An early, and successful, wave function construction for filling fractions ν=p/(2p+1) was that of composite fermions on planar and spherical geometries. Recently, new developments using conformal field theory have made it possible to also construct the full Haldane-Halperin hierarchy wave functions on planar and spherical geometries. In this thesis we extend this construction to a toroidal geometry, i.e. a flat surface with periodic boundary conditions.One of the defining features of topological states of matter in two dimensions is that the ground state is not unique on surfaces with non trivial topology, such as a torus. The archetypical example is the fractional quantum Hall effect, where a state at filling fraction ν=p/q, has at least a q-fold degeneracy on a torus. This has been shown explicitly for a few cases, such as the Laughlin states and the the Moore-Read states, by explicit construction of candidate electron wave functions with good overlap with numerically found states. In this thesis, we construct explicit torus wave functions for a large class of experimentally important quantum liquids, namely the chiral hierarchy states in the lowest Landau level. These states, which includes the prominently observed positive Jain sequence at filling fractions ν=p/(2p+1), are characterized by having boundary modes with only one chirality.Our construction relies heavily on previous work that expressed the hierarchy wave functions on a plane or a sphere in terms of correlation functions in a conformal field theory. This construction can be taken over to the torus when care is taken to ensure correct behaviour under the modular transformations that leave the geometry of the torus unchanged. Our construction solves the long standing problem of engineering torus wave functions for multi-component many-body states. Since the resulting expressions are rather complicated, we have carefully compared the simplest example, that of ν=2/5, with numerically found wave functions. We have found an extremely good overlap for arbitrary values of the modular parameter τ, that describes the geometry of the torus.Having explicit torus wave functions allows us to use the methods developed by Read and Read \& Rezayi to numerically compute the quantum Hall viscosity. Hall viscosity is conjectured to be a topologically protected macroscopic transport coefficient characterizing the quantum Hall state. It is related to the shift of the same QH-fluid when it is put on a sphere. The good agreement with the theoretical prediction for the 2/5 state strongly suggests that our wave functions encodes all relevant topologically information.We also consider the Hall viscosity in the limit of a very thin torus. There we find that the viscosity changes as we approach the thin torus limit. Because of this we study the Laughlin state in that limit and see how the change in viscosity arises from a change in the Hamiltonian hopping elements. Finally we conclude that there are both qualitative and quantitative difference between the thin and the square torus. Thus, one has to be careful when interpreting results in the thin torus limit.