Anyon tunneling in the ν=1/3 fractional quantum Hall state

The edge modes of the fractional quantum Hall states are theoretically described by chiral Luttinger liquid (CLL) theory. Tunneling conductance between weakly backscattered counterpropagating edge modes may be used to probe the topological properties of the bulk and are a powerful probe of edge dynamics. However, experimental observations of the tunneling conductance in GaAs devices have historically exhibited features that do not agree with theoretical predictions for a chiral Luttinger liquid. Here we present measurements using a quantum point contact (QPC) in a GaAs quantum well which is part of a Fabry-Pérot interferometer previously used to measure anyonic braiding statistics. The GaAs heterostructure has two additional screening wells populated with electrons. These screening wells produce a sharp confinement potential which allows the anyonic quasiparticles of the fractional quantum hall liquid to tunnel between counterpropagating edges through a gapped region maintained at filling factor 1/3. The tunneling conductance measured in the weak-backscattering limit at the ν=1/3 follows the description of the CLL theory. Moreover, the Luttinger parameter extracted from the relation between the tunneling conductance and the bias voltage is g = 0.335 ± 0.005. To our knowledge, this is the first direct observation of anyon tunneling in the weak backscattering limit that is fully consistent with the predictions for a chiral Luttinger liquid.