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Title: A highly correlated topological bubble phase of composite fermions
Strong interactions and topology drive a wide variety of correlated ground states. Some of the most interesting of these ground states, such as fractional quantum Hall states and fractional Chern insulators, have fractionally charged quasiparticles. Correlations in these phases are captured by the binding of electrons and vortices into emergent particles called composite fermions. Composite fermion quasiparticles are randomly localized at high levels of disorder and may exhibit charge order when there is not too much disorder in the system. However, more complex correlations are predicted when composite fermion quasiparticles cluster into a bubble, and then these bubbles order on a lattice. Such a highly correlated ground state is termed the bubble phase of composite fermions. Here we report the observation of such a bubble phase of composite fermions, evidenced by the re-entrance of the fractional quantum Hall effect. We associate this re-entrance with a bubble phase with two composite fermion quasiparticles per bubble. Our results demonstrate the existence of a new class of strongly correlated topological phases driven by clustering and charge ordering of emergent quasiparticles.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1904497
NSF-PAR ID:
10469537
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Nature
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Nature Physics
Volume:
19
Issue:
5
ISSN:
1745-2473
Page Range / eLocation ID:
689 to 693
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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