Edge probes of topological order

Abstract

According to the bulk-edge correspondence principle, the physics of the gapless edge in the quantum Hall effect determines the topological order in the gapped bulk. As the bulk is less accessible, the last two decades saw the emergence of several experimental techniques that invoke the study of the compressible edge. We review the properties of the edge, and describe several experimental techniques that include shot noise and thermal noise measurements, interferometry, and energy (thermal) transport at the edge. We pay special attention to the filling factor 5/2 in the first excited Landau level (in two-dimensional electron gas in GaAs), where experimental evidence of a non-Abelian topological order was found. A brief discussion is devoted to recent interferometry experiments that uncovered unexpected physics in the integer quantum Hall effect. The article also addresses the theory of edge states, for systems with Abelian and non-Abelian topological orders.