Article

# Measurements of quasiparticle tunneling in the υ= 5/2 fractional quantum Hall state

Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 02139, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
(Impact Factor: 3.66). 04/2012; 85(16). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.85.165321

ABSTRACT

Some models of the 5/2 fractional quantum Hall state predict that the quasiparticles, which carry the charge, have non-Abelian statistics: exchange of two quasiparticles changes the wave function more dramatically than just the usual change of phase factor. Such non-Abelian statistics would make the system less sensitive to decoherence, making it a candidate for implementation of topological quantum computation. We measure quasiparticle tunneling as a function of temperature and dc bias between counterpropagating edge states. Fits to theory give e*, the quasiparticle effective charge, close to the expected value of e/4 and g, the strength of the interaction between quasiparticles, close to 3/8. Fits corresponding to the various proposed wave functions, along with qualitative features of the data, strongly favor the Abelian 331 state.

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