Striped quantum Hall state in a half-filled Landau level

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new striped quantum Hall state at filling factor 5/2, composed of alternating Pfaffian and anti-Pfaffian regions, which explains experimental observations and exhibits unique electrical and thermal properties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel intermediate striped state between Pf and APf, providing a new candidate for the 5/2 fractional quantum Hall state.

Findings

The striped state is incompressible and charge insulating in the bulk.

The state supports gapless neutral bulk modes, making it a heat conductor.

Properties align with existing numerical and experimental data.

Abstract

Nature of the fractional quantum Hall state at Landau level filling factor 5/2 remains elusive despite intensive experimental and theoretical work. While the leading theoretical candidates are Moore-Read Pfaffian (Pf) and its particle-hole conjugate anti-Pfaffian (APf), neither received unambiguous experimental support. We show that a state that is intermediate between them, made of alternating stripes of Pf and APf in the bulk, is a viable candidate. Such a state is shown to be incompressible and thus a charge insulator in the bulk, but a heat conductor due to the presence of gapless neutral bulk modes. We argue that properties of such a state is consistent with existing numerical and experimental work, and discuss possible experimental probes of its presence.