Isolated Ballistic Non-Abelian Interface Channel

Non-abelian anyons are prospective candidates for fault-tolerant topological quantum computation due to their long-range entanglement. Curiously these quasiparticles are charge-neutral, hence elusive to most conventional measurement techniques. A proposed host of such quasiparticles is the $\nu$=5/2 quantum Hall state. The gapless edge modes can provide the topological order of the state, which in turn identifies the chirality of the non-abelian mode. Since the $\nu$=5/2 state hosts a variety of edge modes (integer, fractional, neutral), a robust technique is needed to isolate the fractional channel while retaining its original non-abelian character. Moreover, a single non-abelian channel can be easily manipulated to interfere, thus revealing the state's immunity to decoherence. In this work, we exploit a novel approach to gap-out the integer modes of the $\nu$=5/2 state by interfacing the state with integer states, $\nu$=2 & $\nu$=3 (1). The electrical conductance of the isolated interface channel was 0.5e$^2$/h, as expected. More importantly, we find a thermal conductance of 0.5$\kappa_0$T (with $\kappa_0$=$\pi^2k_B^2$/3h), confirming unambiguously the non-abelian nature of the $\nu$=1/2 interface channel and its Particle-Hole Pfaffian topological order. Our result opens new avenues to manipulate and test other exotic QHE states and braid, via interference, the isolated fractional channels.Comment: 20 pages, 4 main figure

Controlled Dephasing of a Quantum Dot: From Coherent to Sequential Tunneling

Resonant tunneling through identical potential barriers is a textbook problem in quantum mechanics. Its solution yields total transparency (100% tunneling) at discrete energies. This dramatic phenomenon results from coherent interference among many trajectories, and it is the basis of transport through periodic structures. Resonant tunneling of electrons is commonly seen in semiconducting 'quantum dots'. Here we demonstrate that detecting (distinguishing) electron trajectories in a quantum dot (QD) renders the QD nearly insulating. We couple trajectories in the QD to a 'detector' by employing edge channels in the integer quantum Hall regime. That is, we couple electrons tunneling through an inner channel to electrons in the neighboring outer, 'detector' channel. A small bias applied to the detector channel suffices to dephase (quench) the resonant tunneling completely. We derive a formula for dephasing that agrees well with our data and implies that just a few electrons passing through the detector channel suffice to dephase the QD completely. This basic experiment shows how path detection in a QD induces a transition from delocalization (due to coherent tunneling) to localization (sequential tunneling)

Electron Pairing of Interfering Interface-Based Edge Modes

The remarkable Cooper-like pairing phenomenon in the Aharonov-Bohm interference of a Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI)$\rm{-}$operating in the integer quantum Hall regime$\rm{-}$remains baffling. Here, we report the interference of paired electrons employing 'interface edge modes'. These modes are born at the interface between the bulk of the FPI and an outer gated region tuned to a lower filling factor. Such configuration allows toggling the spin and the orbital of the Landau level (LL) of the edge modes at the interface. We find that electron pairing occurs only when the two modes (the interfering outer and the first inner) belong to the same spinless LL.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, Supplementary Informatio