Bunching of fractionally charged quasiparticles tunnelling through high-potential barriers

Shot noise measurements have been used to measure the charge of quasiparticles in the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) regime1,2,3. To induce shot noise in an otherwise noiseless current of quasiparticles, a barrier is placed in its path to cause weak backscattering. The measured shot noise is proportional to the charge of the quasiparticles; for example, at filling factor v=1/3, noise corresponding to q=e/3 appears. For increasingly opaque barriers, the measured charge increases monotonically, approaching q=e asymptotically4,5. It was therefore believed that only electrons, or alternatively, three bunched quasiparticles, can tunnel through high-potential barriers encountered by a noiseless current of quasiparticles. Here we investigate the interaction of e/3 quasiparticles with a strong barrier in FQH samples and find that bunching of quasiparticles in the strong backscattering limit depends on the average dilution of the quasiparticle current. For a very dilute current, bunching ceases altogether and the transferred charge approaches q=e/3. This surprising result demonstrates that quasiparticles can tunnel individually through high-potential barriers originally thought to be opaque for them.