Prof. Alexei Kitaev

California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91125

Anyonic interferometers

I will discuss the possibility of measuring quasiparticle statistics in fractional quantum Hall states using a two point-contact interferometer. In the Fabri-Perot interferometer, the tunneling currect is periodic in the magnetic flux with period of several flux quanta and depends on the topological charge of particles trapped between the contacts. In the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, the current has the usual periodicity but dependends on the tunneling amplitude ratio between the contacts in a characteristic way. Especially interesting is the non-Abelian case ($\nu=5/2$), where an asymmetry in the I-V curve is expected and the effective charge characterizing the shot noise can vary from $e/4$ to $3e$.

Seminar schedule: http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/qcg/Seminars.html