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Originally published in Science Express on 17 April 2008
Science 16 May 2008:
Vol. 320. no. 5878, pp. 899 - 902
DOI: 10.1126/science.1157560
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Research Articles

Quasi-Particle Properties from Tunneling in the Formula Fractional Quantum Hall State

Iuliana P. Radu,1 J. B. Miller,2 C. M. Marcus,2* M. A. Kastner,1 L. N. Pfeiffer,3 K. W. West3

Quasi-particles with fractional charge and statistics, as well as modified Coulomb interactions, exist in a two-dimensional electron system in the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) regime. Theoretical models of the FQH state at filling fraction Formula make the further prediction that the wave function can encode the interchange of two quasi-particles, making this state relevant for topological quantum computing. We show that bias-dependent tunneling across a narrow constriction at Formula exhibits temperature scaling and, from fits to the theoretical scaling form, extract values for the effective charge and the interaction parameter of the quasi-particles. Ranges of values obtained are consistent with those predicted by certain models of the Formula state.

1 Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
2 Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
3 Bell Laboratories, Alcatel-Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ 07974, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: marcus{at}harvard.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Measurement of filling factor 5/2 quasiparticle interference with observation of charge e/4 and e/2 period oscillations.
R. L. Willett, L. N. Pfeiffer, and K. W. West (2009)
PNAS 106, 8853-8858
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