Milestone-Proposal:Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

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Docket #:2024-13

This proposal has been submitted for review.

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To the proposer’s knowledge, is this achievement subject to litigation? No

Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? Yes

Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s designated fields as defined by IEEE Bylaw I-104.11, namely: Engineering, Computer Sciences and Information Technology, Physical Sciences, Biological and Medical Sciences, Mathematics, Technical Communications, Education, Management, and Law and Policy. Yes

Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? Yes

Was it of at least regional importance? Yes

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? Yes

Has the IEEE Section(s) in which the plaque(s) will be located agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? Yes

Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? Yes

Has the owner of the site agreed to have it designated as an IEEE Milestone? Yes

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Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:

1982

Title of the proposed milestone:

Fractional Quantum Hall Effect, 1982

Plaque citation summarizing the achievement and its significance; if personal name(s) are included, such name(s) must follow the achievement itself in the citation wording: Text absolutely limited by plaque dimensions to 70 words; 60 is preferable for aesthetic reasons.

In 1982, Bell Labs researchers revealed a new phase of matter, an incompressible quantum fluid that supports fractional charges. Daniel Tsui and Horst Störmer experimentally observed this result in two-dimensional electron systems confined within gallium arsenide heterostructures engineered by Arthur Gossard. This discovery, named the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect (FQHE), transformed key concepts in physics, while opening new directions in quantum computation and other potential applications.

200-250 word abstract describing the significance of the technical achievement being proposed, the person(s) involved, historical context, humanitarian and social impact, as well as any possible controversies the advocate might need to review.

While conducting traditional Hall measurements on specially designed ultra-pure gallium arsenide semiconductor quantum wells grown by Art Gossard, Daniel Tsui, and Horst Stormer in 1982 discovered quantized Hall resistance with the value suggesting quasiparticles carrying 1/3 of an electron charge. This effect was later observed at this and other odd-denominator fractions: 1/3, 2/5, 3/7, etc., none of which were theoretically anticipated at the time. Their measurements led to a breakthrough in the understanding of 2D electron systems and showed that at very low temperatures and high magnetic fields, electrons can condense into a quantum liquid with fractionally charged excitations whose properties are entirely determined by electron-electron interactions. This discovery won them and theorist Robert Laughlin the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The discovery of the FQHE spurred important and ongoing progress not only in experiment but in the theory of condensed matter systems at large. Laughlin’s theory elegantly described the fundamental wavefunction of the interacting electrons, indicating fractional charges. Importantly, the discovery presented a completely new type of quantum phase in condensed matter. Prior to this discovery, states of matter and their properties could be understood through Landau’s theory of symmetry breaking, but understanding the FQHE required the novel concept of topological order. Topological order describes macroscopic quantum states and can support charge carriers that are a fraction of the electron charge, something never seen before the FQHE. Importantly, topological order can require non-local entanglement, a potentially important component to achieving long coherence times crucial for quantum computing. The discovery of FQHE and its theoretical explanation have led to a new era of physics and engineered quantum systems relying on topological order, enabling new solid-state devices for applications in fault-tolerant quantum memory and quantum computation.

IEEE technical societies and technical councils within whose fields of interest the Milestone proposal resides.

Solid-State Circuits

In what IEEE section(s) does it reside?

North Jersey

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone:

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) paying for milestone plaque(s):

Unit: North Jersey Section
Senior Officer Name: Emad Farag

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) arranging the dedication ceremony:

Unit: North Jersey Section
Senior Officer Name: Emad Farag

IEEE section(s) monitoring the plaque(s):

IEEE Section: North Jersey
IEEE Section Chair name: Emad Farag

Milestone proposer(s):

Proposer name: Theodore Sizer
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Please note: your email address and contact information will be masked on the website for privacy reasons. Only IEEE History Center Staff will be able to view the email address.

Street address(es) and GPS coordinates in decimal form of the intended milestone plaque site(s):

600 Mountain Avenue, Murray Hill, NJ 07974 40.684031, -74.401783

Describe briefly the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not, in themselves, sufficient connection for a milestone plaque.

Please give the address(es) of the plaque site(s) (GPS coordinates if you have them). Also please give the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc. If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give the contact information visitors will need. Intention is to have the plaque just outside the main entrance to the Nokia Bell Labs facility in Murray Hill, NJ. Is both a corporate building and an Historic Site as other historical markers from IEEE are already on site both inside and outside the building.

Are the original buildings extant?

Yes

Details of the plaque mounting:

Outside the building on a rock or other permanent structure.

How is the site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public?

The plaque will be prior to entering the building and thus there is no need to pass through security.

Who is the present owner of the site(s)?

Nokia America

What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)? If personal names are included in citation, include detailed support at the end of this section preceded by "Justification for Inclusion of Name(s)". (see section 6 of Milestone Guidelines)

Justification for Inclusion of Names Arthur Gossard, Daniel Tsui, and Horst Störmer were colleagues in the physics departments at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey USA, where they were all involved in the design and experimentation on the initial FQHE device. Tsui and Störmer discovered the FQHE in unique material grown by Art Gossard, and all three were awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics. Thus, these three individuals are the researchers involved in the first FQHE demonstrations.

Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

The fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) is a physical phenomenon in which electrons confined to two dimensions display quantized values of Hall conductance at fractional filling factors of Landau levels. It was discovered in 1982 by Daniel C. Tsui, Horst L. Störmer, and Arthur C. Gossard collaborators at Bell Labs[1]. The FQHE is a more complex version of the integer quantum Hall effect due to electron-electron interactions and its discovery led to new concepts in quantum physics involving fractionally charged quasiparticles and topological order[2].

Discovery

Background Prior to the discovery of the FQHE, the integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) had been observed in 1980 by Klaus von Klitzing[3]. The IQHE occurs when two-dimensional electrons in a strong magnetic field have their Hall resistance quantized to exact integer fractions of h/e^2. This was explained by the localization of electrons between Landau levels - discrete energy states for electrons in a magnetic field.

Experimental Setup: The FQHE was discovered using high-mobility GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy at Bell Labs by the epitaxy researcher Arthur Gossard[1]. These samples contained a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the interface between GaAs and AlGaAs. Key features of the experimental setup included:

• High-mobility samples (90,000-100,000 cm^2/Vs)

• Low temperatures (down to 0.48 K)

• Strong magnetic fields (up to 200 kG)

• Precise measurements of longitudinal (ρxx) and Hall (ρxy) resistivity

Initial Observation: In October 1981, Tsui and Störmer performed magnetotransport measurements on a high-mobility GaAs-AlGaAs sample at the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory[4]. They observed an unexpected dip in ρxx and plateau in ρxy at a Landau level filling factor of ν = 1/3, corresponding to ρxy = 3h/e^2. This was the first evidence of the FQHE. Key Experimental Findings: The main experimental observations that characterized the FQHE included[1][4]:

1. Quantized Hall plateau at ρxy = 3h/e^2 for ν = 1/3

2. Vanishing longitudinal resistance (ρxx → 0) at ν = 1/3

3. Activated temperature dependence of ρxx around ν = 1/3

4. Observation of similar features at other fractional filling factors (ν = 2/3, 2/5, etc.)

5. Increased prominence of FQHE features at lower temperatures and in higher mobility samples

These results could not be explained by single-particle theories used for the IQHE and pointed to the importance of electron-electron interactions in the FQHE.

Theoretical Explanations

Initial Interpretations The observation of quantized Hall resistance at fractional filling factors was highly unexpected and challenging to explain theoretically. Some early ideas proposed to account for the effect included:

• Formation of a Wigner crystal or charge density wave state[1]

• Existence of fractionally charged quasiparticles[5]

• New correlated ground state of electrons in partially filled Landau levels[6]

Laughlin's Wavefunction: In 1983, Robert B. Laughlin proposed a trial many-body wavefunction to describe the ground state and excitations of the FQHE at ν = 1/3 and other primary fractions[7]. Key features of Laughlin's theory included:

• Incompressible quantum fluid ground state

• Fractionally charged quasiparticle excitations (e* = e/3 for ν = 1/3)

• Explanation of quantized Hall conductance

Laughlin's wavefunction provided a framework for understanding the FQHE and earned him a share of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Tsui and Störmer.

Composite Fermion Theory: In the late 1980s, Jainendra K. Jain developed the composite fermion theory as a unified explanation for both integer and fractional quantum Hall effects[8]. This theory describes the FQHE in terms of weakly interacting composite particles formed by attaching an even number of magnetic flux quanta to each electron. The validity of the composite fermion picture was established by direct observation of composite fermion orbits near half-filled Landau levels [9], which led to theory describing Fermi surface formation at those filling factors [10]. The discovery of an even-denominator fractional quantum Hall state [11] and the picture of pairing of composite fermions to produce this state [12] are among bases for the development of topological quantum computation [13].

Significance and Impact

The discovery of the FQHE had far-reaching implications for condensed matter physics and quantum mechanics:

1. Revealed new states of matter with topological order

2. Introduced concepts of fractionally charged quasiparticles and anyons

3. Stimulated development of topological quantum computation

4. Provided insights into strongly correlated electron systems

5. Led to new experimental techniques for studying 2D electron systems

The FQHE remains an active area of research, with ongoing investigations into more exotic fractional states, bilayer and higher Landau level physics, and potential applications in quantum information processing. As FQHE is a fundamental physical effect there are no patents which are granted as to its uniqueness.

Footnotes

[1] D. C. Tsui, H. L. Störmer, and A. C. Gossard, "Two-Dimensional Magnetotransport in the Extreme Quantum Limit," Phys. Rev. Lett. 48, 1559 (1982).

[2] H. L. Störmer, "The Fractional Quantum Hall Effect," Rev. Mod. Phys. 71, 875 (1999).

[3] K. v. Klitzing, G. Dorda, and M. Pepper, "New Method for High-Accuracy Determination of the Fine-Structure Constant Based on Quantized Hall Resistance," Phys. Rev. Lett. 45, 494 (1980).

[4] H. L. Störmer, D. C. Tsui, and A. C. Gossard, "The fractional quantum Hall effect," Rev. Mod. Phys. 71, S298 (1999).

[5] R. B. Laughlin, "Anomalous Quantum Hall Effect: An Incompressible Quantum Fluid with Fractionally Charged Excitations," Phys. Rev. Lett. 50, 1395 (1983).

[6] B. I. Halperin, "Statistics of Quasiparticles and the Hierarchy of Fractional Quantized Hall States," Phys. Rev. Lett. 52, 1583 (1984).

[7] R. B. Laughlin, "Elementary Theory: the Incompressible Quantum Fluid," in The Quantum Hall Effect, edited by R. E. Prange and S. M. Girvin (Springer, New York, 1987).

[8] J. K. Jain, "Composite-fermion approach for the fractional quantum Hall effect," Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 199 (1989).

[9] R.L. Willett, R.R. Ruel, K.W. West, L.N. Pfeiffer, “Experimental Demonstraion of a Fermi Surface at One-Half Filling Factor,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 71,3846 (1993).

[10] B.I. Halperin, P.A. Lee, N. Read, “Theory of the half-filled Landau level,” Phys. Rev. B 47, 7312,1993.

[11] R.L. Willett, J.P. Eisenstein, D.C. Tsui, A. Gossard, J. English, “Observation of an even-denominator quantum number in the fractional quantum Hall effect, Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 1776, (1987).

[12] G. Moore, N. Read, “Non-Abelions in the fractional quantum Hall effect,” Nucl. Phys. B360, 362, 1991.

[13] A.Y. Kitaev, “Fault tolerant quantum computation by anyons, “ Ann. Phys. (N.Y.) 303, 2, 2003.

What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?

Discovery of the FQHE required overcoming three main technical challenges. To explore electron-electron interactions, an incredibly pure material was required, it had to be cooled to very low temperatures (<5K), and had to be in a very large magnetic field.[1][2] At that point in time, the material required was only available at Bell Labs in New Jersey and the magnetic field required was only available at the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory in Massachusetts. The team had to design, build, and transport an entire measurement apparatus to Massachusetts that was capable of performing the ultra-sensitive measurements required in this very challenging physical environment. [1] "Fractional Quantum Hall Effect at low temperatures", PhysRevB.28.6133 {2} Willett R., Wisenstein J.P, Stormer H.L., Tsui D.C., Gossard A.C., and English J.H. "Observation of an Even-Denominator QuantumNumber in the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect" PhysRevLett v59, #15, pp1776-1779

What features set this work apart from similar achievements?

The ultrahigh purity material and challenging measurement techniques employed in this work revealed for the first time in a condensed matter system a fractional electron effect. The results were ultimately understood to be due to fractionally charged excitations formed in an electron liquid, this liquid a new type of macroscopic quantum state in the vane of superconductors and super-fluids. This was also only the second time in history, after the discovery of superconductors, in which a material with topological order was revealed. Furthermore, the states discovered in this work allowed insight into topological states beyond those of superconductors, due to the rich electron-electron interaction physics found in the FQHE.

Why was the achievement successful and impactful?

The discovery of the FQHE was neither predicted by theory nor an expected result by anyone at the time. This achievement fundamentally changed the way physicists understood correlated electron systems and directly led to the creation of a new field of topological physics, including spurring many theoretical developments that were needed to create the concept of topological order later in the decade. The discovery of the FQHE is therefore a landmark in the field of topological physics and is still used to this day for both scientific exploration as well as a basis for the development of new topological devices.

Supporting texts and citations to establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement: Minimum of five (5), but as many as needed to support the milestone, such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or chapters in scholarly books. 'Scholarly' is defined as peer-reviewed, with references, and published. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article. All supporting materials must be in English, or accompanied by an English translation.

"Fractional Quantum Hall Effect at low temperatures", PhysRevB.28.6133

"Two-Dimensional Magnetotransport in the Extreme Quantum Limit" Phys Rev Lett. V48, #22 31 May 1982 pp 1559- 1562

"Nobel Lecture: The fractional quantum Hall effect" Rev Modern Physics, v71, #4 4 July 1999 pp875-889

Stormer, HL; Tsui, DC (1983), "The Quantized Hall Effect.", Science, vol. 220, no. 4603 (published Jun 17, 1983), pp. 1241–1246

Willett R., Wisenstein J.P, Stormer H.L., Tsui D.C., Gossard A.C., and English J.H. "Observation of an Even-Denominator QuantumNumber in the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect" PhysRevLett v59, #15, pp1776-1779

Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC): All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. For documents that are copyright-encumbered, or which you do not have rights to post, email the documents themselves to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please see the Milestone Program Guidelines for more information.

Please email a jpeg or PDF a letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner(s) giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property, and a letter (or forwarded email) from the appropriate Section Chair supporting the Milestone application to ieee-history@ieee.org with the subject line "Attention: Milestone Administrator." Note that there are multiple texts of the letter depending on whether an IEEE organizational unit other than the section will be paying for the plaque(s).

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