Researchers have measured anyonic quasiparticle charges in bilayer graphene using a gate-defined antidot, according to a report published in Nature Physics on August 21, 2026. Trapping and measuring these fractionally charged quasiparticles has historically remained difficult in experimental physics.
Anyons emerge as fractionally charged quasiparticles in the quantum Hall effect and could eventually power topological quantum computers. In the reported setup, the parity of downstream integer edge modes sets the observed charge for hole-conjugate states. The announcement summarizes findings by M. Di Luca and colleagues detailing a quantum Hall antidot operating as a fractional coulombmeter.
The publication places the experiment alongside earlier milestones in quantum Hall research. Cited background includes 1995 experiments by V. J. Goldman and B. Su measuring fractional charge through resonant tunneling, alongside 2008 review work by C. Nayak and co-authors on non-Abelian anyon braiding for fault-tolerant topological quantum computation. Additional references include an antidot interaction review by H.-S. Sim, M. Kataoka, and C. J. B. Ford, D. C. Glattli's 2009 work on quantum shot noise measurement techniques, and 2020 review literature by C. Dean, P. Kim, J. I. A. Li, and A. Young on fractional quantum Hall effects in graphene.
Springer Nature published the peer-reviewed report under DOI 10.1038/s41567-026-03428-8. The publisher listed access options including single-article PDF purchases for $39.95, 30-day online access through Nature+ for $32.99, and annual subscriptions providing 12 print issues with online access for $259.00.
