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Aharonov–Bohm effect in graphene-based Fabry–Pérot quantum Hall interferometers

Nature Nanotechnology volume 16, pages 563–569 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Interferometers probe the wave-nature and exchange statistics of indistinguishable particles—for example, electrons in the chiral one-dimensional edge channels of the quantum Hall effect (QHE). Quantum point contacts can split and recombine these channels, enabling interference of charged particles. Such quantum Hall interferometers (QHIs) can unveil the exchange statistics of anyonic quasi-particles in the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE). Here, we present a fabrication technique for QHIs in van der Waals (vdW) materials and realize a tunable, graphene-based Fabry–Pérot (FP) QHI. The graphite-encapsulated architecture allows observation of FQHE at a magnetic field of 3T and precise partitioning of integer and fractional edge modes. We measure pure Aharonov–Bohm interference in the integer QHE, a major technical challenge in small FP interferometers, and find that edge modes exhibit high-visibility interference due to large velocities. Our results establish vdW heterostructures as a versatile alternative to GaAs-based interferometers for future experiments targeting anyonic quasi-particles.

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Fig. 1: Gate-defined FP interferometer in graphene.
Fig. 2: Tunable QPCs and oscillations controlled by plunger gate.
Fig. 3: AB-dominated FP interference.
Fig. 4: Gate- versus etch-defined interferometer.
Fig. 5: Edge mode velocity and comparison of oscillations in different filling factors.
Fig. 6: AB interference of an integer edge when the bulk is in a fractional filling.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available at the online depository Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4430703. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We thank B. I. Halperin, M. Heiblum, E. Zeldov, H. Shapourian and D. S. Wei for helpful discussions. P.K., Y.R., T.W. and L.E.A. acknowledge support from DOE (no. DE-SC0012260) in regard to measurement, characterization and analysis. P.K., D.H.N., and Y.J.S. acknowledge support from DOE (no. DE-SC0019300) for sample preparation and characterization. K.W. and T.T. acknowledge support from the Elemental Strategy Initiative conducted by the MEXT, Japan, (grant no. JPMXP0112101001), JSPS KAKENHI (grant no. JP20H00354) and CREST (no. JPMJCR15F3, JST). S.Y.L. and Y.H.L. acknowledge support from the Institute for Basic Science (no. IBS-R011-D1). T.W. and A.T.P. were supported by the Department of Defense through the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program. Nanofabrication was performed at the Center for Nanoscale Systems at Harvard, supported in part by an NSF NNIN award (no. ECS-00335765). This research used resources of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, which is a US DOE Office of Science Facility, at Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract no. DE-SC0012704.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Yuval Ronen, Thomas Werkmeister.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Yuval Ronen, Danial Haie Najafabadi, Andrew T. Pierce, Laurel E. Anderson, Bobae Johnson, Amir Yacoby & Philip Kim

  2. John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Thomas Werkmeister, Amir Yacoby & Philip Kim

  3. Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA

    Young Jae Shin

  4. Center for Integrated Nanostructure Physics, Institute for Basic Science, Suwon, Republic of Korea

    Si Young Lee & Young Hee Lee

  5. Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan

    Kenji Watanabe

  6. International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan

    Takashi Taniguchi

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Contributions

Y.R., T.W. and P.K. conceived the idea and designed the project. P.K. supervised the project. Y.R., T.W. and D.H.N. fabricated the devices. L.E.A., Y.J.S., B.J., S.Y.L., Y.H.L. and A.Y. helped and consulted at different stages of the fabrication process and analysis. K.W. and T.T. provided the hBN crystals. Y.R., T.W. and A.T.P. performed the measurements. Y.R., T.W., A.Y. and P.K. wrote the paper with input from all authors.

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Correspondence to Philip Kim.

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Peer review information Nature Nanotechnology thanks Gwendal Fève and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Ronen, Y., Werkmeister, T., Haie Najafabadi, D. et al. Aharonov–Bohm effect in graphene-based Fabry–Pérot quantum Hall interferometers. Nat. Nanotechnol. 16, 563–569 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-021-00861-z

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