arXiv subjects

David F. Mross

Publications and source records attributed to David F. Mross.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Selective braiding of different anyons in the even-denominator fractional quantum Hall effect

Even-denominator quantum Hall states can host several types of anyons with distinct exchange statistics. Depending on the anyon type, exchanging two quasiparticles can impart a phase to the many-body wave function or even transform it into a different state. Here, we realize a gate-tunable Fabry-P\'erot interferometer with an embedded antidot that provides local control over the number of anyons within the interference loop. By independently tuning the magnetic field, carrier densities across the device, and the antidot potential, we access regimes in which localized anyons form reproducibly and measure the associated statistical phases $e^{i \theta_\mathrm{braid}}$. We resolve braiding phases of $\theta_{\mathrm{braid}}=\pi$ and $\theta_{\mathrm{braid}}=\frac{\pi}{2}$, which we attribute to $e/2$ quasiparticles encircling either $e/2$ or $e/4$ quasiparticles, respectively. We further observe switching between different anyon occupancies of the antidot over time, directly resolving individual anyon tunnelling events into the interference loop. Similar behavior occurs at filling factor one third. Our work addresses one of the two key challenges in observing non-Abelian braiding, which requires control of both localized and interfering anyon types.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

The Anyon Zeno Effect

Two anyons encircling each other acquire a quantized braiding phase that is independent of their spatial separation. We show that detecting this phase in a fractional quantum Hall interference experiment results in a quantum Zeno effect: a localized anyon is trapped by constant observation from a stream of anyons supplied by the measurement current. Interferometers with an embedded antidot are ideal for accessing the Zeno regime, where the bare tunneling rate of localized anyons is much lower than the measurement rate. The Zeno-suppressed tunneling rate of the trapped anyon depends on the braiding phase and the transmission of the quantum point contacts. Our primary prediction is that the autocorrelation time of the conductance through the interferometer increases with the bias current. This effect may be used to experimentally control the anyon dynamics, in particular to increase the lifetime of localized anyons.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Theory of Next-Generation Even-Denominator States

Even-denominator quantum Hall states are leading candidates for realizing non-Abelian topological orders, with the $\nu=\frac{5}{2}$ plateau in GaAs the first and most-studied example. Recent experiments in GaAs and bilayer graphene (BLG) have observed many `next-generation' even-denominator states at filling factors such as $\nu=\frac{3}{4}$, $\frac{3}{8}$, and $\frac{3}{10}$. We develop the theory of these states, including analyses of their bulk quasiparticles, of methods for distinguishing between pairing channels in edge transport measurements, and of their trial wavefunctions. As part of this study, we derive general relations of how flux attachment affects many universal properties of states. In particular, we prove that the topological stability of interface modes is invariant under flux attachment. We compare next-generation paired states to Bonderson-Slingerland states at the same filling factors, and demonstrate that their quasiparticles carry identical charges and obey the same exchange statistics. The next-generation and Bonderson-Slingerland states still describe distinct phases, and we find that the former are energetically favored in the lowest Landau level, while the latter are favored in the first excited level.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Orbitally tuned composite-fermion metal-to-superfluid transitions

The effective interaction between composite fermions, set entirely by the Coulomb potential and the underlying electronic Landau level orbitals, can stabilize exotic fractional quantum Hall states. In particular, half-filled Landau levels with different orbital character can host either metallic or paired phases of composite fermions. Here, we leverage experimental control over the orbital composition to realize a composite-fermion pairing transition in the first excited Landau level of bilayer graphene. Transport measurements at filling factors v = 9/2 and 11/2 reveal conductive states giving way to well-developed plateaus with increasing displacement fields. These states are insensitive to an in-plane magnetic field, indicating single-component ground states and thus pointing at non-Abelian orders. Our numerical study, based on displacement-field-dependent Landau-level wavefunctions, supports the orbital origin of the pairing transition and suggests Moore-Read or anti-Pfaffian ground states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Non-Abelian phases from the condensation of Abelian anyons

The observed fractional quantum Hall (FQH) plateaus follow a recurring hierarchical structure that allows an understanding of complex states based on simpler ones. Condensing the elementary quasiparticles of an Abelian FQH state results in a new Abelian phase at a different filling factor, and this process can be iterated \textit{ad infinitum}. We show that condensing clusters of the same quasiparticles into an Abelian state can instead realize non-Abelian FQH states. In particular, condensing quasiparticle pairs in the $ν=\frac{2}{3}$ Laughlin state yields the anti-Pfaffian phase at half-filling. We moreover show that the successive condensation of Laughlin quasiparticles produces quantum Hall states whose fillings coincide with the most prominent plateaus in the first excited Landau level of GaAs. More generally, such condensation can realize any non-Abelian FQH state that admits a parton representation. This surprising result is supported by an exact analysis of explicit wavefunctions, field theory arguments, conformal-field theory constructions of trial states, and numerical simulations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

The numerical case for identifying paired quantum Hall phases by their daughters

Many candidate non-Abelian quantum Hall states are accompanied by nearby `daughter' states, which are proposed to identify their topological order. Combining exact diagonalization and trial wave functions, we provide numerical evidence that daughter states reliably predict the parent topological phase. In the contexts of bilayer graphene and wide GaAs quantum wells, we show that the same interactions simultaneously stabilize Pfaffian, anti-Pfaffian, and their daughters, while suppressing the Jain states. The competition between Pfaffian and anti-Pfaffian, which is decided by particle-hole symmetry-breaking interactions, can likewise be deduced from their daughters. These findings strongly support the daughter-state-based identification of non-Abelian quantum Hall phases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Quarter- and half-filled quantum Hall states and their topological orders revealed by daughter states in bilayer graphene

Even-denominator fractional quantum Hall states are promising candidates for fault-tolerant quantum computing due to their underlying non-Abelian topological orders. However, the topological order of these states remains hotly debated. Here, we report transport measurements on ultra-clean bilayer graphene heterostructures, where we observed four quarter-filled states and their corresponding Levin-Halperin daughter states, constraining their topological order. Moreover, we complete the sequence of half-filled plateaus by detecting states at v=-3/2 and v=1/2 whose daughters suggest an alternating sequence of non-Abelian orders. This pattern suggests a universal origin supporting their use in identifying topological order at even-denominator fillings, though further confirmation is needed via direct measurements. The observed quarter- and half-filled states appear in N=0 and N=1 Landau levels, respectively, and thus highlight a competition between interactions favoring paired states of either four- or two-flux composite fermions. Additionally, we observe several 'next-generation' quantum Hall states that require strong interactions between composite fermions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Anyonic Braiding in a Chiral Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

Fractional quantum statistics are the defining characteristic of anyons. Measuring the phase generated by an exchange of anyons is challenging, as standard interferometry setups -- such as the Fabry-Pérot interferometer -- suffer from charging effects that obscure the interference signal. Here, we present the observation of anyonic interference and exchange phases in an optical-like Mach-Zehnder interferometer based on co-propagating interface modes. By avoiding backscattering and deleterious charging effects, this setup enables pristine and robust Aharonov-Bohm interference without any phase slips. At various fractional filling factors, the observed flux periodicities agree with the fundamental fractionally charged excitations that correspond to Jain states and depend only on the bulk topological order. To probe anyonic statistics, we use a small, charged top-gate in the interferometer bulk to induce localized quasiparticles without modifying the Aharonov-Bohm phase; however, with introducing periodic phase slips. The magnitude of the observed phase slips and their signs align with the expected value at filling 1/3, but their direction shows systematic deviations at fillings 2/5 and 3/7. Control over added individual quasiparticles in this design is essential for measuring the coveted non-Abelian statistics in the future.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Coherent Bunching of Anyons and their Dissociation in Interference Experiments

Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interference of fractional quasiparticles in the quantum Hall Effect generally reveals their elementary charge ($e^*$)[1-15]. Recently, our interferometry experiments with several particle states reported flux periods of $ΔΦ=(e/e^*)Φ_0$ the flux quantum) at moderate temperatures[16]. Here, we report interference measurements of particle-hole conjugated states at filling factor $ν=2/3, 3/5, 4/7$, revealing unexpected flux periodicities of $ΔΦ=Φ_0/ν$. The measured shot noise Fano factor (F) of the partitioned quasiparticles in each of the interferometers quantum point contacts (QPCs), was found to be, $F=ν$[17], and not that of the elementary charge, $F=e^*/e$[18,19]. These observations point to interference of bunched (clustered) elementary quasiparticles as coherent pairs, triples, and quadruplets, respectively. A small metallic gate (top gate, TG), deposited in the center of the interferometer bulk, forming an antidot (or a dot) when charged, thus introducing local quasiparticles at the (anti)dots perimeter. Surprisingly, such charging led to a dissociation of the bunched quasiparticles and thus recovered the conventional flux periodicity set by the elementary quasiparticles charge. However, the shot noise Fano factor (of each QPC) consistently remained at $F=ν$, possibly due to the neutral modes accompanied the conjugated states. The two observations - bunching and debunching (or dissociation) - are not expected by current theories. Similar effects may likely arise in Jains particle states (at lower temperatures) and at even denominator FQH states[20]

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Interaction-driven quantum phase transitions between topological and crystalline orders of electrons

Topological and crystalline orders of electrons both benefit from enhanced Coulomb interactions in partially filled Landau levels. In bilayer graphene (BLG), the competition between fractional quantum Hall liquids and electronic crystals can be tuned electrostatically. Applying a displacement field leads to Landau-level crossings, where the interaction potential is strongly modified due to changes in the orbital wave functions. Here, we leverage this control to investigate phase transitions between topological and crystalline orders at constant filling factors in the lowest Landau level of BLG. Using transport measurements in high-quality hBN-encapsulated devices, we study transitions as a function of displacement field near crossings of $N=0$ and $N=1$ orbitals. The enhanced Landau-level mixing near the crossing stabilizes electronic crystals at all fractional fillings, including a resistive state at $\nu = \frac{1}{3}$ and a reentrant integer quantum Hall state at $\nu = \frac{7}{3}$. On the $N=0$ side, the activation energies of the crystal and fractional quantum Hall liquid vanish smoothly and symmetrically at the transition, while the $N=1$ transitions out of the crystal appear discontinuous. Additionally, we observe quantized plateaus forming near the crystal transition at half filling of the $N=0$ levels, suggesting a paired composite fermion state stabilized by Landau level mixing.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Triangular lattice models of the Kalmeyer-Laughlin spin liquid from coupled wires

Chiral spin liquids (CSLs) are exotic phases of interacting spins in two dimensions, characterized by long-range entanglement and fractional excitations. We construct a local Hamiltonian on the triangular lattice that stabilizes the Kalmeyer-Laughlin CSL without requiring fine-tuning. Our approach employs coupled-wire constructions and introduces a lattice duality to construct a solvable chiral sliding Luttinger liquid, which is driven toward the CSL phase by generic perturbations. By combining symmetry analysis and bosonization, we make sharp predictions for the ground states on quasi-one-dimensional cylinders and tori, which exhibit a fourfold periodicity in the circumference. Extensive tensor network simulations demonstrating ground-state degeneracies, fractional quasiparticles, nonvanishing long-range order parameters, and entanglement signatures confirm the emergence of the CSL in the lattice Hamiltonian.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Vacancies in generic Kitaev spin liquids

The Kitaev honeycomb model supports gapless and gapped quantum spin liquid phases. Its exact solvability relies on extensively many locally conserved quantities. Any real-world manifestation of these phases would include imperfections in the form of disorder and interactions that break integrability. We show that the latter qualitatively alters the properties of vacancies in the gapless Kitaev spin liquid: (i) Isolated vacancies carry a magnetic moment, which is absent in the exactly solvable case. (ii) Pairs of vacancies on even/opposite sublattices gap each other with distinct power laws that reveal the presence of emergent gauge flux.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Phase diagram of compressible and paired states in the quarter-filled Landau level

Quantum Hall plateaus at quarter fillings occur in GaAs wide quantum wells, hole-doped GaAs, and bilayer graphene. However, the interactions favoring incompressible states over compressible composite-Fermi liquids at such fillings are not well understood. We devise a method of computing the trial energies for Haldane pseudopotentials via Monte Carlo sampling. Applying it to the quarter-filled lowest Landau level, we find that tuning the third and fifth pseudopotential can stabilize anti-Pfaffian, Moore-Read, and f-wave states. The smallest deviations from pure Coulomb interactions are required by anti-Pfaffian, whose presence is indicated by daughter states in recent experiments of bilayer graphene at $ν=\frac{3}{4}$.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Aharonov-Bohm Interference in Even-Denominator Fractional Quantum Hall States

Position exchange of non-Abelian anyons affects the quantum state of their system in a topologically-protected way. Their expected manifestations in even-denominator fractional quantum Hall (FQH) systems offer the opportunity to directly study their unique statistical properties in interference experiments. In this work, we present the observation of coherent Aharonov-Bohm interference at two even-denominator states in high-mobility bilayer graphene-based van der Waals heterostructures by employing the Fabry-P\'erot interferometry (FPI) technique. Operating the interferometer at a constant filling factor, we observe an oscillation period corresponding to two flux quanta inside the interference loop, $\Delta\Phi=2\Phi_0$, at which the interference does not carry signatures of non-Abelian statistics. The absence of the expected periodicity of $\Delta\Phi=4\Phi_0$ may indicate that the interfering quasiparticles carry the charge $e^* = \frac{1}{2}e$ or that interference of $e^* = \frac{1}{4}e$ quasiparticles is thermally smeared. Interestingly, at two hole-conjugate states, we also observe oscillation periods of half the expected value, indicating interference of $e^* = \frac{2}{3}e$ quasiparticles instead of $e^* = \frac{1}{3}e$. To probe statistical phase contributions, we operated the FPI with controlled deviations of the filling factor, thereby introducing fractional quasiparticles inside the interference loop. The resulting changes to the interference patterns at both half-filled states indicate that the additional bulk quasiparticles carry the fundamental charge $e^*=\frac{1}{4}e$, as expected for non-Abelian anyons.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Exotic phase transitions in spin ladders with discrete symmetries that emulate spin-1/2 bosons in two dimensions

We introduce a spin ladder with discrete symmetries designed to emulate a two-dimensional spin-1/2 boson system at half-filling. Using global properties, such as the structure of topological defects, we establish a correspondence between the two systems and construct a dictionary of symmetries and operators. In particular, translation invariance leads to Lieb-Schultz-Mattis constraints for both systems, resulting in exotic deconfined quantum critical points. Subsequently, we study the spin ladder in detail. An exact duality transformation maps it onto a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge theory of three partons, analogous to the U(1) gauge theory of chargons and spinons in two-dimensional spin-1/2 boson systems. With the mapping between spins and partons, we construct exactly solvable models for all pertinent symmetry-breaking phases and analyze their transitions. We further make connections between our exact analysis and conventional parton gauge theories.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Universal charge conductance at Abelian--non-Abelian quantum Hall interfaces

Multiple topologically distinct quantum Hall phases can occur at the same Landau level filling factor. It is a major challenge to distinguish between these phases as they only differ by the neutral modes, which do not affect the charge conductance in conventional geometries. We show that the neutral sector can be determined with coherent charge conductance in a $π$-shaped geometry that interfaces three different filling factors. Specifically, non-Abelian paired states at a half-filled Landau level and the anti-Read-Rezayi state can be identified. Interestingly, for interfaces between paired states and Jain states, the electric current in the $π$ geometry behaves as if pairs of neutral Majoranas edge modes were charge modes of Jain states.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Boundary transitions from a single round of measurements on gapless quantum states

Measurements can qualitatively alter correlations and entanglement emerging in gapless quantum matter. We show how a single round of measurements on gapless quantum systems can, upon rotating the measurement basis, induce non-trivial transitions separating regimes displaying universal characteristics governed by distinct boundary conformal field theories. We develop the theory of such `measurement-induced boundary transitions' by investigating a gapless parent of the one-dimensional cluster state, obtained by appropriately symmetrizing a commuting projector Hamiltonian for the latter. Projective measurements on the cluster state are known to convert the wavefunction, after post-selection or decoding, into a long-range-ordered Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state. Similar measurements applied to the gapless parent (i) generate long-range order coexisting with power-law correlations when post-selecting for uniform outcomes, and (ii) yield power-law correlations distinct from those in the pre-measurement state upon decoding. In the post-selection scenario, rotating the measurement basis preserves long-range order up until a critical tilt angle marking a measurement-induced boundary transition to a power-law-ordered regime. Such a transition -- which does not exist in the descendant cluster state -- establishes new connections between measurement effects on many-body states and non-trivial renormalization-group flows. We extend our analysis to tricritical Ising and three-state Potts critical theories, which also display measurement-induced boundary transitions, and propose general criteria for their existence in other settings.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Paired fermions in strong magnetic fields and daughters of even-denominator Hall plateaus

Recent quantum Hall experiments have observed `daughter states' next to several plateaus at half-integer filling factors in various platforms. These states were first proposed based on model wavefunctions for the Moore-Read state by Levin and Halperin. We show that these daughters and their parents belong to an extensive family tree that encompasses all pairing channels and permits a unified description in terms of weakly interacting composite fermions. Each daughter represents a bosonic integer quantum Hall state formed by composite-fermion pairs. The pairing of the parent dictates an additional number of filled composite-fermion Landau levels. We support our field-theoretic composite-fermion treatment by using the K-matrix formalism, analysis of trial wavefunctions, and a coupled-wire construction. Our analysis yields the topological orders, quantum numbers, and experimental signatures of all daughters of paired states at half-filling and `next-generation' even-denominators. Crucially, no two daughters share the same two parents. The unique parentage implies that Hall conductance measurements alone could pinpoint the topological order of even-denominator plateaus. Additionally, we propose a numerically suitable trial wavefunction for one daughter of the SU(2)$_2$ topological order, which arises at filling factor $ν=\frac{6}{11}$. Finally, our insights explain experimentally observed features of transitions in wide-quantum wells, such as suppression of the Jain states with the simultaneous development of half-filled and daughter states.

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