Noninvasive Probe of Charge Fractionalization in Quantum Spin-Hall Insulators

ORAL

Abstract

When an electron with well-defined momentum tunnels into a nonchiral Luttinger liquid, it breaks up into two separate wave packets that carry fractional charges and move in opposite directions. Observing this phenomenon has proven difficult, in part due to single-particle and plasmon backscattering caused by measurement probes. In this talk we propose a topological insulator RC circuit that might be ideally suited for detecting fractional charges directly and in a noninvasive fashion.

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Authors

  • Ion Garate

    Yale University

  • Karyn Le Hur

    Yale University, Ecole Polytechnique, Yale University, 1 Center for Theoretical Physics, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France, 2 Yale University, Yale University Physics Department, New Haven, CT, 06520 USA and Center for Theoretical Physics (CPHT), Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau 91128, France