Transport in helical Luttinger liquids in the fractional quantum Hall regime
Abstract Domain walls in fractional quantum Hall ferromagnets are gapless helical one-dimensional channels formed at the boundaries of topologically distinct quantum Hall (QH) liquids. Naïvely, these helical domain walls (hDWs) constitute two counter-propagating chiral states with opposite spins. Coupled to an s-wave superconductor, helical channels are expected to lead to topological superconductivity with high order non-Abelian excitations 1–3 . Here we investigate transport properties of hDWs in the ν = 2/3 fractional QH regime. Experimentally we found that current carried by hDWs is substantially smaller than the prediction of the naïve model. Luttinger liquid theory of the system reveals redistribution of currents between quasiparticle charge, spin and neutral modes, and predicts the reduction of the hDW current. Inclusion of spin-non-conserving tunneling processes reconciles theory with experiment. The theory confirms emergence of spin modes required for the formation of fractional topological superconductivity.
- Research Organization:
- Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s EPiQS Initiative; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0010544
- OSTI ID:
- 1819005
- Journal Information:
- Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 12; ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
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