Anyons in Quantum Hall Interferometry

TL;DR

This paper reviews quantum Hall interferometry, focusing on Mach-Zehnder and Fabry-Perot geometries, and discusses recent experimental evidence of fractional anyon statistics crucial for topological quantum computing.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of interferometer designs in the quantum Hall regime and highlights recent experimental validation of fractional anyon statistics.

Findings

Demonstration of fractional statistics of Laughlin quasiparticles

Comparison of Mach-Zehnder and Fabry-Perot interferometers

Advances in fabrication enabling direct observation

Abstract

The quantum Hall (QH) effect represents a unique playground where quantum coherence of electrons can be exploited for various applications, from metrology to quantum computation. In the fractional regime it also hosts anyons, emergent quasiparticles that are neither bosons nor fermions and possess fractional statistics. Their detection and manipulation represent key milestones in view of topologically protected quantum computation schemes. Exploiting the high degree of phase coherence, edge states in the QH regime have been investigated by designing and constructing electronic interferometers, able to reveal the coherence and statistical properties of the interfering constituents. Here, we review the two main geometries developed in the QH regime, the Mach-Zehnder and the Fabry-Perot interferometers. We present their basic working principles, fabrication methods, and the main results obtained both in the integer and fractional QH regime. We will also show how recent technological advances led to the direct experimental demonstration of fractional statistics for Laughlin quasiparticles in a Fabry-Perot interferometric setup.