Isolated ballistic non-abelian interface channel

Area of Science:

• Condensed Matter Physics
• Quantum Hall Effect
• Topological Quantum Matter

Background:

• Quantum Hall states exhibit topological order with gapless edge modes due to bulk-edge correspondence.
• The ν = 5/2 quantum Hall state is predicted to host non-abelian anyons, featuring diverse edge modes (integer, fractional, neutral).
• Isolating the fractional edge channel is crucial for thermal equilibration and accurate characterization of the ν = 5/2 state.

Purpose of the Study:

• To experimentally verify the non-abelian nature of the ν = 5/2 quantum Hall state.
• To isolate and measure the thermal conductance of the fractional edge channel.
• To confirm the particle-hole Pfaffian topological order of the ν = 5/2 state.

Main Methods:

• Gapped integer edge modes by interfacing the ν = 5/2 state with integer quantum Hall states (ν = 2 and ν = 3).
• Measured the thermal conductance of the resulting isolated fractional-interface channel.
• Utilized bulk-edge correspondence principles to interpret experimental results.

Main Results:

• Successfully isolated the fractional edge channel of the ν = 5/2 quantum Hall state.
• Measured a half-quantized thermal conductance in the isolated channel.
• The experimental results confirm the non-abelian statistics and particle-hole Pfaffian topological order.

Conclusions:

• The findings provide strong evidence for the non-abelian nature of the ν = 5/2 quantum Hall state.
• The isolated channel offers a promising platform for future braiding experiments with non-abelian anyons.
• This work advances the understanding and potential applications of topological quantum matter.