Tunable even- and odd-denominator fractional quantum Hall states in trilayer graphene

Abstract

The fractional quantum Hall (FQH) states are exotic quantum many-body phases whose elementary charged excitations are neither bosons nor fermions but anyons, obeying fractional braiding statistics. While most FQH states are believed to have Abelian anyons, the Moore-Read type states with even denominators, appearing at half filling of a Landau level (LL), are predicted to possess non-Abelian excitations with appealing potentials in topological quantum computation. These states, however, depend sensitively on the orbital contents of the single-particle LL wavefunction and the mixing between different LLs. Although they have been observed in a few materials, their non-Abelian statistics still awaits experimental confirmation. Here we show magnetotransport measurements on Bernal-stacked trilayer graphene (TLG), whose unique multiband structure facilitates the interlaced LL mixing, which can be controlled by external magnetic and displacement fields. We observe a series of robust FQH states including even-denominator ones at filling factors $\nu=-9/2$, $-3/2$, $3/2$ and $9/2$. In addition, we are able to finetune the LL mixing and crossings to drive quantum phase transitions of these half-filling states and their neighboring odd-denominator ones, exhibiting a related emerging and waning behavior. Our results establish TLG as a controllable system for tuning the weights of LL orbitals and mixing strength, and a fresh platform to seek for non-Abelian quasi-particles.