Affiliation:
1. University of Leeds
2. University of Tennessee, Knoxville
3. Institute of Mathematical Sciences
4. Homi Bhabha National Institute
5. Princeton University
6. Laboratoire de Physique de l'Ecole normale supérieure, ENS
7. University of California, Berkeley
Abstract
A composite fermion (CF) is a topological quasiparticle that emerges from a nonperturbative attachment of vortices to electrons in strongly correlated two-dimensional materials. Similar to noninteracting fermions that form Landau levels in a magnetic field, CFs can fill analogous “Lambda” levels, giving rise to the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effect of electrons. Here, we show that Lambda levels can be directly visualized through the characteristic peak structure in the signal obtained via spectroscopy with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) on a FQH state. Complementary to transport, which probes the low-energy properties of CFs, we show that features in STM spectra can be interpreted in terms of Lambda levels. We numerically demonstrate that STM spectra can be accurately modeled using Jain's CF theory. Our results show that STM provides a powerful tool for revealing the anatomy of FQH states and identifying physics beyond the noninteracting CF paradigm.
Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Funder
Leverhulme Trust
National Science Foundation
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
Horizon 2020
Science and Engineering Research Board
Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India
Basic Energy Sciences
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Princeton Center for Complex Materials
Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
Office of Naval Research
Royal Society International Exchanges
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)