Review assignment¶

Observation of the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect in Graphene (arXiv:0910.2763)¶

Kirill I. Bolotin, Fereshte Ghahari, Michael D. Shulman, Horst L. Stormer, Philip Kim

When electrons are confined in two dimensions and subjected to strong magnetic fields, the Coulomb interactions between them become dominant and can lead to novel states of matter such as fractional quantum Hall liquids. In these liquids electrons linked to magnetic flux quanta form complex composite quasipartices, which are manifested in the quantization of the Hall conductivity as rational fractions of the conductance quantum. The recent experimental discovery of an anomalous integer quantum Hall effect in graphene has opened up a new avenue in the study of correlated 2D electronic systems, in which the interacting electron wavefunctions are those of massless chiral fermions. However, due to the prevailing disorder, graphene has thus far exhibited only weak signatures of correlated electron phenomena, despite concerted experimental efforts and intense theoretical interest. Here, we report the observation of the fractional quantum Hall effect in ultraclean suspended graphene, supporting the existence of strongly correlated electron states in the presence of a magnetic field. In addition, at low carrier density graphene becomes an insulator with an energy gap tunable by magnetic field. These newly discovered quantum states offer the opportunity to study a new state of matter of strongly correlated Dirac fermions in the presence of large magnetic fields.

Hint: Fractional quantum Hall effect in graphene

Exotic non-Abelian anyons from conventional fractional quantum Hall states (arXiv:1204.5479)¶

David J. Clarke, Jason Alicea, Kirill Shtengel

Non-Abelian anyons--particles whose exchange noncommutatively transforms a system's quantum state--are widely sought for the exotic fundamental physics they harbor as well as for quantum computing applications. There now exist numerous blueprints for stabilizing the simplest type of non-Abelian anyon, defects binding Majorana modes, by judiciously interfacing widely available materials. Following this line of attack, we introduce a device fabricated from conventional fractional quantum Hall states and s-wave superconductors that supports exotic non-Abelian anyons that bind `parafermions', which can be viewed as fractionalized Majorana fermions. We show that these modes can be experimentally identified (and distinguished from Majoranas) using Josephson measurements. We also provide a practical recipe for braiding parafermions and show that they give rise to non-Abelian statistics. Interestingly, braiding in our setup produces a richer set of topologically protected qubit operations when compared to the Majorana case. As a byproduct, we establish a new, experimentally realistic Majorana platform in weakly spin-orbit-coupled materials such as GaAs.

Hint: Fractional Majoranas in fractional quantum Hall edges

High threshold universal quantum computation on the surface code (arXiv:0803.0272)¶

Austin G. Fowler, Ashley M. Stephens, Peter Groszkowski

We present a comprehensive and self-contained simplified review of the quantum computing scheme of Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 190504 (2007), which features a 2-D nearest neighbor coupled lattice of qubits, a threshold error rate approaching 1%, natural asymmetric and adjustable strength error correction and low overhead arbitrarily long-range logical gates. These features make it by far the best and most practical quantum computing scheme devised to date. We restrict the discussion to direct manipulation of the surface code using the stabilizer formalism, both of which we also briefly review, to make the scheme accessible to a broad audience.

Hint: A scheme for quantum computation using the toric code

Imprint of topological degeneracy in quasi-one-dimensional fractional quantum Hall states (arXiv:1502.01665)¶

Eran Sagi, Yuval Oreg, Ady Stern, Bertrand I. Halperin

We consider an annular superconductor-insulator-superconductor Josephson-junction, with the insulator being a double layer of electron and holes at Abelian fractional quantum Hall states of identical fillings. When the two superconductors gap out the edge modes, the system has a topological ground state degeneracy in the thermodynamic limit akin to the fractional quantum Hall degeneracy on a torus. In the quasi-one-dimensional limit, where the width of the insulator becomes small, the ground state energies are split. We discuss several implications of the topological degeneracy that survive the crossover to the quasi-one-dimensional limit. In particular, the Josephson effect shows a $2\pi d$-periodicity, where $d$ is the ground state degeneracy in the 2 dimensional limit. We find that at special values of the relative phase between the two superconductors there are protected crossing points in which the degeneracy is not completely lifted. These features occur also if the insulator is a time-reversal-invariant fractional topological insulator. We describe the latter using a construction based on coupled wires. Furthermore, when the superconductors are replaced by systems with an appropriate magnetic order that gap the edges via a spin-flipping backscattering, the Josephson effect is replaced by a spin Josephson effect.

Hint: Making a fractional quantum Hall effect by coupling wires

Bonus: Find your own paper to review!¶

Do you know of another paper that fits into the topics of this week, and you think is good? Then you can get bonus points by reviewing that paper instead!

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