从分数量子霍尔效应到拓扑量子计算*

分数量子霍尔效应系统是奇异的量子液体,其中的准粒子激发可以带分数电荷,甚至具有非阿贝尔的统计性质。理论研究表明,这些准粒子可以用来实现在硬件上可容错的量子计算,即拓扑量子计算。文章在介绍分数量子霍尔效应及其在拓扑量子计算中的潜在应用基础上,重点回顾了近五年来对填充因子为5/2的分数量子霍尔态中非阿贝尔准粒子的实验探测和部分相关理论诠释。     

从分数量子霍尔效应到拓扑量子计算

分数量子霍尔效应系统是奇异的量子液体,其中的准粒子激发可以带分数电荷,甚至具有非阿贝尔的统计性质。理论研究表明,这些准粒子可以用来实现在硬件上可容错的量子计算,即拓扑量子计算。文章在介绍分数量子霍尔效应及其在拓扑量子计算中的潜在应用基础上,重点回顾了近五年来对填充因子为5/2的分数量子霍尔态中非阿贝尔准粒子的实验探测和部分相关理论诠释。     

Breakdown of the quantum hall effect in regularly inhomogeneous 2D electron systems

A breakdown mechanism is discussed for the current-voltage characteristic of the system of integer Hall channels in a 2D sample with a regularly inhomogeneous 2D electron density. It has been shown that the appearance of an external potential V on the “edges” of such strips leads to two alternatives: as V increases, the strip width decreases to zero or increases geometrically but “deteriorates qualitatively.” In both cases with their (different) thresholds, integer strips lose their properties inherent in them in the quantum Hall effect regime. These thresholds are attributed here to the asymmetric breakdown of the quantum Hall effect for the system of integer channels.     

Effect of Joule heating on current-induced asymmetries and breakdown of the quantum Hall effect in narrow Hall bars

Recent low-temperature scanning-force-microscopy experiments on narrow Hall bars, under the conditions of the integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) and its breakdown, have revealed an interesting position dependence of the Hall potential, which changes drastically with the applied magnetic field and the strength of the imposed current through the sample. The present paper shows, that inclusion of Joule heating into an existing self-consistent theory of screening and magneto-transport, which assumes translation invariant Hall bars with a homogeneous background charge due to doping, can explain the experimental results on the breakdown of the IQHE in the so called edge-dominated regime.     

Macroscopic channel-size effect of nonequilibrium electron distributions in quantum Hall conductors

We have studied the channel-size dependence of nonequilibrium electrons excited into higher Landau levels in a quantum Hall conductor, by mapping cyclotron emission in Hall bars of different sizes. The images obtained reveal that the spatial evolution of the nonequilibrium electrons with current density significantly depends on the channel width of the Hall bar on a macroscopic scale of several hundred microms. This observation provides clear evidence of a macroscopic channel-size effect, which can be reasonably understood as originating from a very long equilibrium length of the excited electrons.     

On the quantum Hall effect

We consider a particle in a 2 dimensional plane in a periodic potential and a homogeneous magnetic field perpendicular to the plane. Kubo's expression for conductivity of the Hall current is an integer.

This result of Thouless, Kohomoto, Nightingale and den Nijs is interpreted geometrically.     

Nonequilibrium state of the two-dimensional electron gas in the integer quantum Hall effect regime

We have compared the properties of the nonequilibrium state of the two-dimensional electron gas observed in the samples of different types by means of magnetotransport and magnetization measurements in the quantum Hall effect regime at integer filling factors n. It has been found that the range of filling factors corresponding to the nonequilibrium state is universal for the samples of different types and different measurement techniques and varies from 0.1 to 0.3 for n changing from 1 to 4. The comparison indicates that the observed nonequilibrium state is not directly caused by the appearance of eddy currents and the dielectric phase in the two-dimensional electron gas but is probably associated with the magnetic field-induced phase transition.     

Fractional quantum Hall effect at high fillings in a two-subband electron system

Magnetotransport measurements in a clean two-dimensional electron system confined to a wide GaAs quantum well reveal that, when the electrons occupy two electric subbands, the sequences of fractional quantum Hall states observed at high fillings (ν>2) are distinctly different from those of a single-subband system. Notably, when the Fermi energy lies in the ground state Landau level of either of the subbands, no quantum Hall states are seen at the even-denominator ν=5/2 and 7/2 fillings; instead, the observed states are at ν=[i+p/(2p±1)], where i=2, 3, 4 and p=1, 2, 3, and include several new states at ν=13/5, 17/5, 18/5, 25/7, and 14/3.     

Geometric invariants of the quantum Hall effect

We study the two-dimensional Hall effect with a random potential. The Hall conductivity is identified as a geometric invariant associated with an algebra of observables. Using the pairing betweenK-theory and cyclic cohomology theory, we identify this geometric invariant with a topological index, thereby giving the Hall conductivity a new interpretation.Supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMS-8717185     

Time-reversal-symmetry-broken quantum spin Hall effect

The quantum spin Hall (QSH) state of matter is usually considered to be protected by time-reversal (TR) symmetry. We investigate the fate of the QSH effect in the presence of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling and an exchange field, which break both inversion and TR symmetries. It is found that the QSH state characterized by nonzero spin Chern numbers C(±) = ±1 persists when the TR symmetry is broken. A topological phase transition from the TR-symmetry-broken QSH phase to a quantum anomalous Hall phase occurs at a critical exchange field, where the bulk band gap just closes. It is also shown that the transition from the TR-symmetry-broken QSH phase to an ordinary insulator state cannot happen without closing the band gap.