Anyonic statistics revealed by the Hong-Ou-Mandel dip for fractional excitations

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that Hong-Ou-Mandel interference experiments with fractional quantum Hall edge states can directly reveal anyonic statistics through a universal dip width linked to braiding with thermal fluctuations.

Contribution

It introduces a method to detect anyonic statistics via HOM interference, showing a universal dip width related to thermal effects, applicable with current experimental setups.

Findings

HOM dip width is universally fixed by thermal time scale.

HOM interference reveals signatures of anyonic braiding.

Experimental feasibility with current technology is demonstrated.

Abstract

The fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) is known to host anyons, quasiparticles whose statistics is intermediate between bosonic and fermionic. We show here that Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interferences between excitations created by narrow voltage pulses on the edge states of a FQHE system at low temperature show a direct signature of anyonic statistics. The width of the HOM dip is universally fixed by the thermal time scale, independently of the intrinsic width of the excited fractional wavepackets. This universal width can be related to the anyonic braiding of the incoming excitations with thermal fluctuations created at the quantum point contact. We show that this effect could be realistically observed with periodic trains of narrow voltage pulses using current experimental techniques.