Mode specific backscattering in a quantum point contact

Abstract

We demonstrate a scanning gate grid measurement technique consisting in measuring the conductance of a quantum point contact (QPC) as a function of gate voltage at each tip position. Unlike conventional scanning gate experiments, it allows investigating QPC conductance plateaus affected by the tip at these positions. We compensate the capacitive coupling of the tip to the QPC and discover that interference fringes coexist with distorted QPC plateaus. We spatially resolve the mode structure for each plateau.