Observation of a Fifth of the Electron Charge

Abstract

We report the observation of quasi-particles with a charge q=e/5 detected by shot noise measurements in the 2/5 conducting channel (filling factor 2/5). This is in agreement with previous measurements that showed that the current in the lower, 1/3, channel is carried by quasiparticles with a charge q=e/3. These results demonstrate that the actual fraction of the charge can be different from the filling factor. Moreover, we show that there is no strong interaction between the channels, which can be considered as conducting the current independently.