Nonequilibrium Dephasing in an Electronic Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

TL;DR

This paper investigates how nonequilibrium conditions and electron interactions cause dephasing in an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer, explaining experimental observations like lobe patterns and phase jumps.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework linking shot noise-induced electron density fluctuations to dephasing phenomena in the interferometer.

Findings

Reproduces lobe pattern in visibility

Explains phase jumps of π

Aligns with experimental data

Abstract

We study nonequilibrium dephasing in an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer. We demonstrate that the shot noise at the beam splitter of the interferometer generates an ensemble of nonequilibrium electron density configurations and that electron interactions induce configuration-specific phase shifts of an interfering electron. The resulting dephasing exhibits two characteristic features, a lobe pattern in the visibility and phase jumps of $\pi$, in good agreement with experimental data.