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Interactions and charge fractionalization in an electronic Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer
Claire Wahl1, Jérôme Rech1, Thibaut Jonckheere1
1Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, CPT, UMR 7332, 13288 Marseille, France and Université de Toulon, CNRS, CPT, UMR 7332, 83957 La Garde, France.
Physical Review Letters
|March 4, 2014
Summary
Interactions between electrons in chiral edge states reduce indistinguishability in electronic Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interferometers. This decoherence phenomenon explains reduced contrast observed in recent experiments.
Area of Science:
- Condensed matter physics
- Quantum optics
- Mesoscopic physics
Background:
- The Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interferometer demonstrates quantum interference of indistinguishable particles.
- Electronic analogs of the HOM interferometer are crucial for understanding quantum transport in interacting systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of electron-electron interactions on the HOM interference visibility in a chiral edge state interferometer.
- To explain the reduced contrast observed in recent electronic HOM experiments.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical modeling of two-electron interference at a quantum point contact in chiral edge states.
- Analysis of current noise spectra to probe electron indistinguishability and decoherence.
- Consideration of interactions leading to charge fractionalization and emergent neutral modes.
Main Results:
- Electron-electron interactions in copropagating edge states significantly reduce the indistinguishability of electron wave packets.
- The observed decoherence effect is strongly dependent on the energy resolution of the electron packets.
- Charge fractionalization leads to interference between charge and neutral modes, manifesting as satellite features in the current noise.
Conclusions:
- Electron interactions in chiral edge states act as a source of decoherence, limiting the visibility of the electronic HOM effect.
- The theoretical framework successfully explains the reduced contrast in experimental observations of the electronic HOM interferometer.
- Understanding these interaction-induced decoherence mechanisms is vital for developing future quantum electronic devices.
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