Coherence and Phase in an Electronic Mach-Zehnder Interferometer: An Unexpected Behavior of Interfering Electrons

Abstract

We report the observation of an unpredicted behavior of interfering 2D electrons in the integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) regime via a utilization of an electronic analog of the well-known Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI). The beauty of this experiment lies in the simplicity of two path interference. Electrons that travel the two paths via edge channels, feel only the edge potential and the strong magnetic field; both typical in the IQHE regime. Yet, the interference of these electrons via the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect, behaves surprisingly in a most uncommon way. We found, at filling factors 1 and 2, high visibility interference oscillations, which were strongly modulated by a lobe-type structure as we increased the electron injection voltage. The visibility went through a few maxima and zeros in between, with the phase of the AB oscillations staying constant throughout each lobe and slipping abruptly by at each zero. The lobe pattern and the 'stick-slip' behavior of the phase were insensitive to details of the interferometer structure; but highly sensitive to magnetic field. The observed periodicity defines a 'new energy scale' with an unclear origin. The phase rigidity, on the other hand, is surprising since Onsager relations are not relevant here.