Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 227, 1345–1359 (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2018-800074-1

Regular Article

Hong-Ou-Mandel characterization of multiply charged Levitons

¹ Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Graphene Labs, Via Morego 30, 16163 Genova, Italy
² Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy
³ CNR-SPIN, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy
⁴ Aix Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, CNRS, CPT, Marseille, France

^a e-mail: ferraro@fisica.unige.it

Received: 27 April 2018
Received in final form: 23 July 2018
Published online: 18 October 2018

Abstract

We review and develop recent results regarding Leviton excitations generated in topological states of matter – such as integer and fractional quantum Hall edge channels – and carrying a charge multiple of the electronic one. The peculiar features associated with these clean and robust emerging excitations can be detected through current correlation measurements. In particular, relevant information can be extracted from the noise signal in generalized Hong-Ou-Mandel experiments, where Levitons with different charges collide against each other at a quantum point contact. We describe this quantity both in the framework of the photo-assisted noise formalism and in terms of a very interesting and transparent picture based on wave-packet overlap.