Upstream neutral modes in the fractional quantum Hall effect regime: heat waves or coherent dipoles


  Yaron Gross  ,  Merav Dolev  ,  Moty Heiblum  ,  Vladimir Umansky   ,  Diana Mahalu  
Braun Center for Submicron Research, Dept. of Condensed Matter Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel

Chiral counter propagating (upstream) neutral edge modes, which were predicted to be present in hole-conjugate states, were observed recently in a variety of fractional quantum Hall states (n=2/3, n=3/5, n=8/3, n=5/2), by measuring charge noise that resulted after partitioning the neutral mode at a constriction (denoted, as N->C).  Particularly noticeable was the observation of such modes in the n=5/2 fractional state - as it sheds light on the non-abelian nature of the state’s wavefunction.  Yet, the nature of these unique, upstream, chargeless modes and the microscopic process in which they generate shot noise, are not understood.  Here, we study the ubiquitous n=2/3 state, and report of two main observations: First, of a dual process, namely, the partitioning of a downstream charge mode gives birth to an upstream neutral mode (C®N).  This may have important consequences when employing a constriction to split impinging quasiparticles, because energy is been drawn away from the charge mode, thus likely to dephase the partitioned quasiparticles.  Second, the nature of the neutral modes was tested via the charge noise created by ‘colliding’ two upstream neutral modes in a narrow constriction.  The results were consistent with a simple model of a heat wave that heats locally the tunneling quasiparticles.