English

Direct Observation of a Fractional Charge

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2009-10-30 v1

Abstract

We performed measurements of Quantum Shot Noise in order to determine the quasiparticle charge in the Fractional Quantum Hall regime. The noise is generated by a current flow through a partially transmitting Quantum Point Contact in a 2DEG. The noise is directly proportional to the charge of the quasiparticles, thus allowing direct determination of the charge. We measured Quantum Shot Noise at a filling factor of 1/3 and found that the charge is e/3; as predicted by Laughlin.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9707289,
  title  = {Direct Observation of a Fractional Charge},
  author = {R. de-Picciotto and M. Reznikov and M. Heiblum and V. Umansky and G. Bunin and D. Mahalu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9707289},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

3 pages, PostScript, 4 figures. Submitted to Nature