Coherent Bunching of Anyons and their Dissociation in Interference Experiments

Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interference in fractional quantum Hall states generally reveals the fractional charge e* of their elementary quasiparticles. Indeed, flux periods of ΔΦ=(e/e*)Φ ₀ were observed in interference of ‘particle-like’ fractional states. Here, we report interference measurements of ‘particle-hole conjugated’ states at filling factors ν=2/3, 3/5, and 4/7, revealing the unexpected periodicities, ΔΦ=ν ^-1 Φ ₀ . Moreover, the measured shot noise Fano factor (F) of partitioned quasiparticles in the interferometer’s quantum point contacts (QPCs) was F=ν and not the expected F=e*/e. These combined observations indicate that fractional quasiparticles tunnel in the QPCs and interfere as coherently bunched pairs, triples, and quadruplets, respectively. Charging a small metallic gate in the center of the two-path interferometer forms an antidot (or a dot) and introduces local quasiparticles, leading, unexpectedly, to a dissociation of the bunched quasiparticles, thus restoring the flux periodicity set by the elementary quasiparticle charge. The surprising observations of bunching and dissociation, unsupported by current theory, suggest similar effects in particle-like states at lower temperatures.