Magnetic-Field-Dependent Equilibration of Fractional Quantum Hall Edge Modes.

Fractional conductance is measured by partitioning a ν=1 edge state using gate-tunable fractional quantum Hall (FQH) liquids of filling 1/3 or 2/3 for current injection and detection. We observe two sets of FQH plateaus 1/9, 2/9, 4/9 and 1/6, 1/3, 2/3 at low and high magnetic field ends of the ν=1 plateau, respectively. The findings are explained by magnetic field dependent equilibration of three FQH edge modes with conductance e^{2}/3h arising from edge reconstruction. The results reveal a remarkable enhancement of the equilibration lengths of the FQH edge modes with increasing magnetic field.

Inter-Landau-level Andreev Reflection at the Dirac Point in a Graphene Quantum Hall State Coupled to a NbSe_{2} Superconductor.

Superconductivity and the quantum Hall effect are distinct states of matter occurring in apparently incompatible physical conditions. Recent theoretical developments suggest that the coupling of the quantum Hall effect with a superconductor can provide fertile ground for realizing exotic topological excitations such as non-Abelian Majorana fermions or Fibonacci particles. As a step toward that goal, we report observation of Andreev reflection at the junction of a quantum Hall edge state in a single layer graphene and a quasi-two-dimensional niobium diselenide (NbSe_{2}) superconductor. Our principal finding is the observation of an anomalous finite-temperature conductance peak located precisely at the Dirac point, providing a definitive evidence for inter-Landau-level Andreev reflection in a quantum Hall system. Our observations are well supported by detailed numerical simulations, which offer additional insight into the role of the edge states in Andreev physics. This study paves the way for investigating analogous Andreev reflection in a fractional quantum Hall system coupled to a superconductor to realize exotic quasiparticles.

Fingerprints of Majorana Bound States in Aharonov-Bohm Geometry.

We study a ring geometry, coupled to two normal metallic leads, which has a Majorana bound state (MBS) embedded in one of its arms and is threaded by Aharonov-Bohm (AB) flux ϕ. We show that by varying the AB flux, the two leads go through resonance in an anticorrelated fashion while the resonance conductance is quantized to 2e^{2}/h. We further show that such anticorrelation is completely absent when the MBS is replaced by an Andreev bound state (ABS). Hence this anti-correlation in conductance when studied as a function of ϕ provides a unique signature of the MBS which cannot be faked by an ABS. We contrast the phase sensitivity of the MBS and ABS in terms of tunneling conductances. We argue that the relative phase between the tunneling amplitude of the electrons and holes from either lead to the level (MBS or ABS), which is constrained to 0,π for the MBS and unconstrained for the ABS, is responsible for this interesting contrast in the AB effect between the MBS and ABS.

Thermoelectric probe for neutral edge modes in the fractional quantum Hall regime.

The ν=5/2 anti-Pfaffian state and the ν=2/3 state are believed to have an edge composed of counterpropagating charge and neutral modes. This situation allows the generation of a pure thermal bias between two composite edge states across a quantum point contact as was experimentally established by Bid et al. [Nature 466, 585 (2010)]. We show that replacing the quantum point contact by a quantum dot provides a natural way for detecting the neutral modes via the dc current generated by the thermoelectric response of the dot. We also show that the degeneracies of the dot spectrum, dictated by the conformal field theories describing these states, induce asymmetries in the thermoelectric current peaks. This in turn provides a direct fingerprint of the corresponding conformal field theory.

Spin-polarized scanning-tunneling probe for helical Luttinger liquids.

We propose a three-terminal spin-polarized STM setup for probing the helical nature of the Luttinger liquid edge state that appears in the quantum spin Hall system. We show that the three-terminal tunneling conductance depends on the angle (θ) between the magnetization direction of the tip and the local orientation of the electron spin on the edge while the two terminal conductance is independent of this angle. We demonstrate that chiral injection of an electron into the helical Luttinger liquid (when θ is zero or π) is associated with fractionalization of the spin of the injected electron in addition to the fractionalization of its charge. We also point out a spin current amplification effect induced by the spin fractionalization.

Transport and accumulation of spin anisotropy.

We show that spin anisotropy can be transferred to an isotropic system by transport of a spin-quadrupole moment. We derive the quadrupole moment current and continuity equation and study a spin-valve structure consisting of two ferromagnets coupled to a quantum dot probing an impurity spin. The quadrupole backaction on their coupled spin results in spin torques and anisotropic spin relaxation which do not follow from standard spin-current considerations. We demonstrate the detection of the impurity spin by charge transport and its manipulation by electric fields.

Fabry-Perot interferometry in Weyl semi-metals.

We show that the electrical transport across a minimal model for a time-reversal symmetry breaking Weyl semi-metal (WSM) involving two Weyl nodes can be interpreted as an interferometer in momentum space. The interference phase depends on the distance between the Weyl nodes ([Formula: see text]) and is anisotropic. It is further shown that a minimal inversion symmetry broken model for a WSM with four Weyl nodes effectively mimics a situation corresponding to having two copies of the interferometer due to the presence of an orbital pseudo-spin domain wall in momentum space. We point out that the value of the [Formula: see text] and consequently the interference phase can be tuned by driving the WSMs resulting in oscillations in the two terminal conductance measured in the direction of splitting of the Weyl nodes.

Probing the neutral edge modes in transport across a point contact via thermal effects in the Read-Rezayi non-Abelian quantum Hall states.

Non-Abelian quantum Hall states are characterized by the simultaneous appearance of charge and neutral gapless edge modes, with the structure of the latter being intricately related to the existence of bulk quasiparticle excitations obeying non-Abelian statistics. Here we propose a scenario for detecting the neutral modes by having two point contacts in series separated by a distance set by the thermal equilibration length of the charge mode. We show that by using the first point contact as a heating device, the excess charge noise measured at the second point contact carries a nontrivial signature of the presence of the neutral mode. We also obtain explicit expressions for the thermal conductance and corresponding Lorentz number for transport across a quantum point contact between two edges held at different temperatures and chemical potentials.

Enhancement of tunneling density of states at a junction of three Luttinger liquid wires.

We study the tunneling density of states (TDOS) for a junction of three Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid wires. We show that there are fixed points which allow for the enhancement of the TDOS, which is unusual for Luttinger liquids. The distance from the junction over which this enhancement occurs is of the order of x=v/(2omega), where v is the plasmon velocity and omega is the bias frequency. Beyond this distance, the TDOS crosses over to the standard bulk value independent of the fixed point describing the junction. This finite range of distances opens up the possibility of experimentally probing the enhancement in each wire individually.