Revisiting the Hanbury Brown-Twiss set-up for fractional statistics

TL;DR

This paper proposes a modified Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment in fractional quantum Hall systems to detect fractional statistics through current-current correlations, providing a new method to probe quasiparticle behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental setup using edge-state quasiparticles to reveal fractional statistics via current correlations.

Findings

Clear signature of fractional statistics in current-current correlations

Modified HBT setup effectively probes quasiparticle statistics

Potential for experimental detection of fractional quantum Hall quasiparticles

Abstract

The Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment has proved to be an effective means of probing statistics of particles. Here, in a set-up involving edge-state quasiparticles in a fractional quantum Hall system, we show that a variant of the experiment composed of two sources and two sinks can be used to unearth fractional statistics. We find a clear cut signature of the statistics in the equal-time current-current correlation function for quasiparticle currents emerging from the two sources and collected at the sinks.