Evidence for spontaneous interlayer phase coherence in a bilayer quantum Hall exciton condensate

Recent experimental work on the quantized Hall state at total filling factor ν_T=1 in bilayer 2D electron systems has revealed a number of striking phenomena, including a giant and sharply resonant enhancement of the interlayer tunneling conductance at zero bias. The tunneling enhancement is a compelling indicator of spontaneous interlayer phase coherence among the electrons in the system. Such phase coherence is perhaps the single most important attribute of the excitonic Bose condensate which describes this remarkable quantum Hall state.     

Disorder and the theory of the fractionally quantized Hall effect

In a recent article we showed that weak disorder does not change the ground states of a system of interacting electrons on a torus in a strong magnetic field at a filling factorf ₀, if the denominator off ₀ is odd and small. At filling factors near but not equalf ₀ disorder becomes important. We show that the ground states and the low excited states of such a system may be constructed from the ground states atf ₀ through adding localized electrons or holes. These states have the same degeneracy as the ground states atf ₀ and lead to the same value of the Hall conductance.     

Light scattering observations of spin reversal excitations in the fractional quantum Hall regime

Resonant inelastic light scattering experiments access the low lying excitations of electron liquids in the fractional quantum Hall regime in the range 2/5≥ν≥1/3. Modes associated with changes in the charge and spin degrees of freedom are measured. Spectra of spin reversed excitations at filling factor ν?1/3 and at ν?2/5 identify a structure of lowest spin-split Landau levels of composite fermions (CFs) that is similar to that of electrons. Observations of spin wave excitations enable determinations of energies required to reverse spin. The spin reversal energies obtained from the spectra illustrate the significant residual interactions of composite fermions. At ν=1/3 energies of spin reversal modes are larger but relatively close to spin conserving excitations that are linked to activated transport. Predictions of composite fermion theory are in good quantitative agreement with experimental results.     

Resonant enhancement of inelastic light scattering in the fractional quantum Hall regime at ν=1/3

Strong resonant enhancements of inelastic light scattering from the long wavelength inter-Landau level magnetoplasmon and the intra-Landau level spin wave excitations are seen for the fractional quantum Hall state at ν=1/3. The energies of the sharp peaks (FWHM 0.2 meV) in the profiles of resonant enhancement of inelastic light scattering intensities coincide with the energies of photoluminescence bands assigned to negatively charged exciton recombination. To interpret the observed enhancement profiles, we propose three-step light scattering mechanisms in which the intermediate resonant transitions are to states with charged excitonic excitations.     

Low integer Landau level filling factors ν and indications for the fractional ν=1/2 in the 2D organic metal κ-(BEDT-TTF)2I3

In the two-dimensional (2D) organic metal κ-(BEDT-TTF)₂I₃ the low integer Landau level filling factors ν=1-4 are observed under specific experimental conditions. In high magnetic fields even the presence of the fractional ν=1/2 is strongly indicated in this multilayer material. These ν are detected by the chemical potential μ, i.e. a thermodynamic quantity, which could be probed under complex fermiological conditions.     

Role of electron spin in integer quantum hall photoluminescence

We investigate numerically the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum in the integer quantum Hall regime and find that the electron spins play important roles. The spectra for the left circularly polarized light show peak splittings when the Fermi levels lies in the excited Landau level, which is caused by the inter Landau level scattering between electrons with anti-parallel spins. At around ν_e∼1 the PL energy is strongly affected by the interplay between the screening and multiple spin flipping (skyrmion) effects.     

Exact results for systems of electrons in the fractional quantum Hall regime

There has been a great deal of interest over the last two decades on the fractional quantum Hall effect, a novel quantum many-body liquid state of strongly correlated two-dimensional electronic systems in a strong perpendicular magnetic field. The most pronounced fractional quantum Hall states occur at odd denominator filling factors of the lowest Landau level and are described by the Laughlin wave function. It is well known that exact closed-form solutions for many-body wave functions, including the Laughlin wave function, are generally very rare and hard to obtain. In this work we present some exact results corresponding to small systems of electrons in the fractional quantum Hall regime at odd denominator filling factors. Use of Jacobi coordinates is the key tool that facilitates the exact calculation of various quantities. Expressions involving integrals over many variables are considerably simplified with the help of Jacobi coordinates allowing us to calculate exactly various quantities corresponding to systems with several electrons.     

On the fractional quantum hall effect

We show in the Hartree-Fock approximation that the formation of a two dimensional electron lattice allows for a natural explanation of the anomalous fractional quantum Hall effect. Landau levels are broadened and split in a number of bands in such a way that if the number of electrons per unit cell is a half odd integer the Fermi energy is in a gap for an odd filling fraction denominator, and at the center of a band if the denominator is even.     

Universal scaling of plateau width in the quantum Hall effect

The plateau width in the quantum Hall effect follows a general scaling rule with ΔB/B₀² being a constant for all the filling factors of integer intervals. This scaling rule can be derived based on the energy spectrum of two-dimensional electrons forming a crystal lattice in the presence of a strong magnetic field.     

Fractional quantization of Hall resistance as a consequence of mesoscopic feedback

A nonlinear single-particle model is introduced, which captures the characteristic of systems in the quantum Hall regime. The model involves the magnetic Schrödinger equation with spatially variable magnetic flux density. The distribution of flux is prescribed via the postulates of the mesoscopic mechanics (MeM) introduced in my previous articles (cf. [9, 10]). The model is found to imply exact integer and fractional quantitzation of the Hall conductance. In fact, Hall resistance is found to be R _H = (h/e ²)(M/N) at the filling factor value N/M. The assumed geometry of the Hall plate is rectangular. Special properties of the magnetic Schrödinger equation with the mesoscopic feedback loop allow us to demonstrate quantization of Hall resistance as a direct consequence of charge and flux quantization. I believe results presented here shed light at the overall status of the MeM in quantum physics, confirming its validity.     

Thermodynamic measurements in a fractional quantum hall effect and the composite-fermion approach

A quantitative comparison of the magnetocapacitance measurements on high-quality samples in the fractional quantum Hall effect with the composite-fermion approach has been performed. For this comparison, the relation between the electron chemical potential μ _e and quasi-particle spectrum has been derived. The effect of the temperature T has been calculated in the two-level approximation. The calculation quantitatively describes the decrease in the measured chemical-potential jump at filling factors of ν = 1/3, 2/5 with increasing T. In the compressible range 1/3 < ν < 2/5, the slope of the temperature dependence dμe/dν(T) is also in agreement with the calculation. The discrepancy of the composite-fermion approach with the experimental data is in the incorrectly predicted gaps and their dependence on the denominator of a fraction.     

Electron fluid and quasiparticles in the quantum Hall effect

To explain fractional quantum Hall effect, it is necessary to take into account both the interaction between electrons and their interaction with impurities. We propose a simple model, where the Coulomb repulsion is replaced by a short range potential. For this model we are able to find many-body wave functions of the electron system interacting with impurities and calculate the Hall conductivityσ _xy. A simple physical picture, arising in the framework of this model, provides the understanding of a general reason for both fractional and integral quantum Hall effect. In the model, electrons forming a two-dimensional system, is supposed to occupy the first Landau level. The interaction of electrons is regarded as being small compared with the distance between the Landau levels. The radius of interaction is much less than the magnetic length. The following statements have been proved (Pokrovsky and Talapov 1985a,b; Trugman and Kivelson 1985). For the fillingν=1/m of the first Landau level the ground state is nondegenerate and has the wave functionΩ _w, proposed by Laughlin (1983). Forν, which is slightly less than 1/m the ground state is highly degenerate in the absence of impurities. It can be described as a system of noninteracting quasiholes as proposed by Laughlin (1983). These quasiholes float in the uniform incompressible fluid. Each quasihole has the charge |e|/m. The total number of quasiholes isq=S?mN, whereS is a number of states on the Landau level,N is the number of electrons. The impurities capture quasiholes. If the number of quasiholesq is less than the number of impuritiesN _i, then the ground state becomes nondegenerate. This fact permits us to calculateσ _xy (Pokrovsky and Talapov 1985b). Let there be a small electric fieldE in the system. In the absence of impurities the electron fluid is at rest in the frame of reference, moving with velocityν=cE/H. In this frame of reference the impurities move with the velocity ?v, carrying captured quasiholes. Therefore, the quasihole currents isj _q=(?ν)(| e|/m)q. Hence, in the initial frame of reference the total current isj=Nev+j _q=Sev/m. This means thatσ _xy=(1/m)e ²/2π?).     

Single-electron transport through quantum point contact

Here, we employ a numerical approach to investigate the transport and conductance characteristics of a quantum point contact. A quantum point contact is a narrow constriction of a width comparable to the electron wavelength defined in a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) by means of split-gate or etching technique. Their properties have been widely investigated in the experiments. In our study, we define a quantum Hall based split-gate quantum point contact with standard gate geometry. Firstly, we obtain the spatial distribution of incompressible strips (current channels) by applying a self consistent Thomas-Fermi method to a realistic heterostructure under quantized Hall conditions. Later, time-dependent Schrödinger equation is solved for electrons injected in the current channels. The transport characteristics and time-evolutions are analyzed in the integer filling factor regime (ν = 1) with the single electron density. The results confirm that the current direction in a realistic quantum point contact can be controllable with the external interventions.     

Topology and fractional quantum Hall effect

Starting from Laughlin-type wave functions with generalized periodic boundary conditions describing the degenerate ground state of a quantum Hall system we explicitly construct r-dimensional vector bundles. It turns out that the filling factor ν is given by the topological quantity c₁/r where c₁ is the first Chem number of these vector bundles. In addition, we managed to proof that under physical natural assumptions the stable vector bundles correspond to the experimentally dominating series of measured fractional filling factors ν = n/(2pn±1). Most remarkably, due to the very special form of the Laughlin wave functions the fluctuations of the curvature of these vector bundles converge to zero in the limit of infinitely many particles which shows a new mathematical property. Physically, this means that in this limit the Hall conductivity is independent of the boundary conditions which is very important for the observability of the effect. Finally, we discuss the relation of this result to a theorem of Donaldson.     

Effect of an in-plane magnetic field on magnetoresistance hysteresis of the two-dimensional electron gas in the integer quantum Hall effect regime

Effect of an in-plane magnetic field on the features of the magnetoresistance of a narrow conducting channel placed in the bath of a macroscopic two-dimensional electron gas has been studied. These features are manifested in the hysteretic behavior of the magnetoresistance in the quantum Hall effect regime. It has been found that the hysteresis loops observed in different ranges of the filling factor may be separated into two groups that differ in both the response to the in-plane magnetic field and the temperature dependence. The basic features observed near the integer filling factors ν = 1 and 2 are almost independent of the in-plane magnetic field. Therefore, their origin is not associated with spin effects. At the same time, additional features that appear at ν ≈ 1.8 and 2.2 are suppressed by the in-plane magnetic field B _‖ ≈ 6 T and almost temperature-independent from 45 mK to 1 K.     

Probing spin physics in the quantum Hall regime by heat capacity and magnetotransport measurements

We review recent heat capacity and magnetotransport experiments on GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures containing multilayer two-dimensional electron systems (2DESs) in the quantum Hall regime. Emphasis in this article is on the study of the heat capacity near Landau level filling factor ν=1. We also present a detailed survey of the development of the quantum Hall effect in tilted-magnetic fields for ν≲2. Among the novel phenomena we address is the strong coupling between the nuclear spins and the electrons associated with the spin phase transitions of the 2DES at ν=4/3 and near ν=1. To cite this article: S. Melinte et al., C. R. Physique 3 (2002) 667–676.     

Integer and fractional quantum Hall effects in bilayer electron systems

Integer and fractional quantum Hall (QH) effects are studied in bilayer electron systems both theoretically and experimentally, especially, at ν=2 and 2/3. Due to the spin and layer degrees of freedom, the SU(4) symmetry underlies the integer QH states, where quantum coherence develops spontaneously and quasiparticles are coherent excitations. It is intriguing that a pair of skyrmions makes one quasiparticle at ν=2. In the fractional QH regime, on the other hand, the composite-fermion cyclotron gap competes with the Zeeman and tunneling gaps, bringing in new phases and excitations. At ν=2/3 our experimental data suggest that a quasiparticle is not a coherent excitation but simply a composite fermion.     

Disorder effect on the quantum Hall effect in thin films of three-dimensional topological insulators

We numerically study the quantum Hall effect (QHE) in three-dimensional topological insulator (3DTI) thin film in the presence of the finite Zeeman energy g and the hybridization gap Δ under a strong magnetic field and disorder. For Δ = 0 but g ≠ 0, the Hall conductivity remains to be odd-integer quanti-zed σ _xy = ν(e ²/h) , where ν = 2? + 1 with ? being an integer. In the presence of disorder, the Hall plateaus can be destroyed through the float-up of extended levels toward the band center and the higher plateaus disappear first. The two central plateaus with ν = ± 1 around the band center are strongest against disorder scattering. With the increasing of the disorder strength, Hall plateaus are destroyed faster for the system with a weaker magnetic field. If g = 0 but Δ ≠ 0, there is a splitting of the central (n = 0) Landau level, yielding a new plateau with ν = 0, in addition to the original odd-integer plateaus. In the strong-disorder regime, the QHE plateaus can be destroyed due to the float-up of extended levels toward the band center. The ν = 0 plateau around the band center is strongest against disorder scattering, which eventually disappears. For both g ≠ 0 and Δ ≠ 0, the simultaneous presence of nonzero g and Δ causes the splitting of the degenerating Landau levels, so that all integer Hall plateaus ν = ? appear. The ν = 0,1 plateaus are the most stable ones. In the strong-disorder regime, all QHE states are destroyed by disorder, and the system transits into an insulating phase.     

Magneto-optics of strongly correlated two-dimensional electrons in single heterojunctions

Investigations of two-dimensional (2D) electron systems in semiconductors subjected to a strong perpendicular magnetic field with the use of photoluminescence are reviewed. The foundation of the optical spectroscopy method using the radiative recombination of 2D electrons with photoexcited holes bound to acceptors in a δ-doped monolayer in GaAs/Al _x Ga_1-x As single heterojunctions is presented. Optical spectroscopy studies of the energy spectra of 2D electrons imposed on transverse magnetic fields in the regimes of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects are discussed. The relationship between the mean energy of the 2D electron gas and the first moment of their radiative recombination is analysed. It is shown that the magnetic field dependence of the first moment provides a method to measure the cyclotron, enhanced spin and quasiparticle energy gaps at the same time. Therefore it is shown how magneto-optics ‘see’ the ground state of interacting 2D electrons in the extreme quantum limit and how an optical ‘tool’ is efficient for the determination of Coulomb gaps of incompressible Fermi fluids in the fractional quantum Hall effect. Finally optical observations and studies of the Wigner crystallization of 2D electrons are presented. The corresponding liquid-solid phase diagram is discussed.