FACULTY
Amir Yacoby
Professor of Physics
PhD 1994, Weizmann Institute of Science
Professor Yacoby is an experimental condensed matter physicist. His current research interests are focused at unraveling the underlying phenomena governing low dimensional systems. Starting with two dimensional electron systems, the group uses novel scan probe techniques that are capable of detecting electric charge with a resolution of 10 -4 of one electron and spatial resolution of 100nm. This technique enables them to image the distribution of electrons and the way they localize in space in various material systems such as GaAs or single monolayers of graphite as well as under various ground state conditions such as the integer and fractional quantum Hall effect. Of particular interest is the 5/2 fractional quantum Hall ground state where the elementary excitations carry a fractional charge of e/4 and obey non-Abelian statistics. Such a system is a model system for topological quantum computation.
Reducing dimensionality further to one dimension opens up a fascinating world where electrical conduction is strongly governed by the interaction between electrons. Here the group explores experimentally Luttinger liquid behavior whose strongest manifestation is the separation of spin and charge of the elementary excitations.
Finally going down to zero dimensional systems, know as quantum dots, the group studies various approaches to storing and manipulating quantum information using the spin of individual electrons.
- S. Ilani, J. Martin, E. Tetelbaum, J. Smet, V. Umansky, D. Mahalu, A. Yacoby, "The Microscopic Nature of Localization in the Quantum Hall Effect", Nature 427 , 328 (2004).
- J. Martin, S. Ilani, B. Verdene, J. Smet, V. Umansky, D. Mahalu, D. Schuh, G. Abstreiter, A. Yacoby, "Localization of Fractionally Charged Quasi Particles", Science 305 , 980 (2004).
- A. Auerbach, I. Finkler, B. I. Halperin, and A. Yacoby, "Steady - States of a Microwave - Irradiated Quantum - Hall Gas", Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 , 196801 (2005).
- O. Auslaender, H. Steinberg, A. Yacoby, Y. Tserkovnyak, B. I. Halperin, K. W. Baldwin, L. N. Pfeiffer, and K. W. West, "Spin - Charge Separation and Localization in One-Dimension", Science 308 , 88 (2005).
- J. R. Petta, A. C. Johnson, J. M. Taylor, E. A. Laird, A. Yacoby, M. D. Lukin, C. M. Marcus, M. P. Hanson, A. C. Gossard, "Coherent Manipulation of Coupled Electron Spins in Semiconductor Quantum Dots", Science 309 , 2180 (2005).
- A. C. Johnson, J. R. Petta, J. M. Taylor, A. Yacoby, M. D. Lukin, C. M. Marcus, M. P. Hanson, A. C. Gossard, "Triplet - Singlet Spin Relaxation via Nuclei in a Double Quantum Dot", Nature 435 , 925 (2005).
- T. Dadosh, Y. Gordin, R. Krahne, I. Khivrich, D. Mahalu, V. Freydman, J. Sperling, A. Yacoby, I. Bar - Joseph, "Measurement of the Conductance of Single Conjugated Molecules", Nature 436 , 677 (2005).