Talking through the continuum: New manifestations of Fano-resonance phenomenology realized with mesoscopic nanostructures

The focus of this review is recent work in which we have demonstrated a highly-flexible approach to the study of Fano-resonance phenomena, by making use of the mesoscopic devices known as quantum point contacts (QPCs). Utilizing the ability of these structures to function as an "on-demand quantum state", we demonstrate a highly-flexible system for the investigation of Fano resonances. Our approach involves making measurements of non-locally coupled pairs of QPCs, one of which is used to form the discrete state needed for the Fano resonance, while the other serves as a detector whose conductance is sensitive to the energy of this state. As a demonstration of the flexibility of this approach, we show how it can be used to implement a "multi-state" Fano resonance, in which two discrete states undergo a robust interaction that is achieved by coupling them to each other through a common continuum.