Discernible signatures of fractionally charged anyons in a Pfaffian-Laughlin state

TL;DR

This paper investigates the signatures of fractionally charged anyons in a Pfaffian-Laughlin state using theoretical models and photoluminescence spectroscopy, providing insights into quasihole energetics and interactions.

Contribution

It extends previous studies of Laughlin quasiholes to the Pfaffian state, analyzing quasihole properties and proposing experimental PL spectroscopy as a probe.

Findings

Energy dispersion of e/4 quasiholes reflects quantum dot and Pfaffian state interactions

PL spectroscopy can probe quasihole charge density and creation energy

Theoretical insights into Pfaffian quasihole energetics and interactions

Abstract

Understanding the nature of quasihole excitations, i.e., anyons that have fractional charge and statistics, has been a challenging problem in condensed matter physics. Our theoretical approach to this problem has been to consider a quantum dot, containing a few charged particles, coupled to the incompressible fluid. It has provided important insights into the energetics of Laughlin quasiholes. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy studies of this system have been able to probe these quasiholes that have confirmed our expectations. Turning to the Pfaffian state, we now observe that such a system is also able to provide valuable information about the Pfaffian quasiholes, viz., the energy dispersion, the charge density distribution and the quasihole creation energy. The energy dispersion of e/4 quasiholes derived here, clearly reflect the interaction between the quantum dot and the incompressible Pfaffian state. PL spectroscopy experiments on the 5/2 Pfaffian-Laughlin state could perhaps shed light on the energetics of these elusive quasiparticles.