Scientific Calendar Event



Description
The Pfaffian phase of electrons in the proximity of a half-filled Landau level is understood to be a p+ip superconductor of composite fermions.  We consider the properties of this paired quantum Hall phase when the pairing scale is small, i.e. in the weak-coupling, BCS, limit, where the coherence length is much larger than the charge screening length.  We find that, as in a Type I superconductor, the vortices attract so that, upon varying the magnetic field from its magic value at \nu=5/2, the system exhibits Coulomb frustrated phase separation.  We propose that the weakly and strongly coupled Pfaffian states exemplify a general dichotomy between Type I and Type II quantum Hall fluids.
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