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Phys. Rev. B 80, 155304 (2009) [12 pages]

Odd-even crossover in a non-Abelian ν=5/2 interferometer

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Waheb Bishara
Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology, MC 256-80, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

Chetan Nayak
Microsoft Research, Station Q, CNSI Building, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106-4030, USA and Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA

Received 1 June 2009; revised 12 August 2009; published 5 October 2009

We compute the backscattered current in a double point-contact geometry of a quantum-Hall system at filling fraction ν=5/2 as a function of bias voltage in the weak backscattering regime. We assume that the system is in the universality class of either the Pfaffian or anti-Pfaffian state. When the number of charge e/4 quasiparticles in the interferometer is odd, there is no interference pattern. However, the coupling between a charge e/4 quasiparticle and the edge causes it to be absorbed by the edge at low energies. Consequently, an interference pattern appears at low bias voltages and temperatures, as if there were an even number of quasiparticles in the interferometer. We relate this problem to that of a semi-infinite Ising model with a boundary magnetic field. Using the methods of perturbed boundary conformal field theory, we give an exact expression for this crossover of the interferometer as a function of bias voltage. Finally, we comment on the possible relevance of our results to recent interference experiments.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.80.155304
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.80.155304
PACS:
73.43.−f, 73.40.Gk