Observation of the variations of the domain structure of a spontaneous electric field in a two-dimensional electron system under microwave irradiation

It has been found on a sample of the GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure with the two-dimensional electron system that different configurations of domains of a spontaneous electric field are possible within one microwave- induced state with the resistance tending to zero. Transitions between such configurations are observed at the variation of the radiation power and magnetic field. In the general case, the configuration of domains is more complicated than existing models. The fragment of the distribution of the electric field in the sample for one of the observed configurations is in agreement with the rhombic domain structure considered by I. G. Finkler and B. I. Halperin, Phys. Rev. B 79, 085315 (2009).     

Current-induced anisotropy and reordering of the electron liquid-crystal phases in a two-dimensional electron system

The correlated phases in a two-dimensional electron system with a high index partially filled Landau level are studied in transport under nonequilibrium conditions by imposing a dc-current drive. At filling 1/4 and 3/4 of these Landau levels, where the charge density wave picture predicts an isotropic bubble phase, the dc drive induces anisotropic transport behavior consistent with stripe order. The easy axis of the emerging anisotropic phase is perpendicular to the drive. At half filling the anisotropic stripe phase is stabilized by the dc drive provided drive and easy-axis directions coincide.     

NMR probing of the spin polarization of the ν=5/2 quantum Hall state

Resistively detected nuclear magnetic resonance is used to measure the Knight shift of the 75As nuclei and determine the electron spin polarization of the fractional quantum Hall states of the second Landau level. We show that the 5/2 state is fully polarized within experimental error, thus confirming a fundamental assumption of the Moore-Read theory. We measure the electron heating under radio frequency excitation and show that we are able to detect NMR at electron temperatures down to 30 mK.     

Cyclotron spin-wave in the 2D electron system

The cyclotron spin-wave mode of a two-dimensional electron system have been investigated by inelastic light scattering. It is observed at small electron filling factors, (v～0.1, when the electron system is spin-depolarized. As long as the electron system becomes fully spin-polarized (v>0.2), the cyclotron spin-wave disappears from the inelastic light scattering spectra. It reenters at electron filling factors v>1. Over the range of electron filling factors of 1<v<2, the cyclotron spin-wave energy is insensitive to both the experimentally accessible in-plane momenta and the electron concentration, whereas its inelastic light scattering efficiency is strongly influenced by the spin polarization of the electron system.     

Long-range spatial correlations in the exciton energy distribution in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

Variations in the width of a quantum well (QW) are known to be a source of broadening of the exciton line. Using low temperature near-field optical microscopy, we have exploited the dependence of exciton energy on well width to show that in GaAs QWs, these seemingly random well-width fluctuations actually exhibit well-defined order-strong long-range correlations appearing laterally, in the plane of the QW, as well as vertically, between QWs grown one on top of the other. We show that these fluctuations are correlated with the commonly found mound structure on the surface. This is an intrinsic property of molecular beam epitaxial growth.     

Mott transition of excitons in coupled quantum wells

In this work we study the phase diagram of indirect excitons in coupled quantum wells and show that the system undergoes a phase transition to an unbound electron-hole plasma. This transition is manifested as an abrupt change in the photoluminescence linewidth and peak energy at some critical power density and temperature. By measuring the exciton diamagnetism, we show that the transition is associated with an abrupt increase in the exciton radius. We find that the transition is stimulated by the presence of direct excitons in one of the wells and show that they serve as a catalyst of the transition.     

Characterizing neutral modes of fractional states in the second Landau level

Fractionally charged quasiparticles, which obey non-abelian statistics, were predicted to exist in the ν=8/3, ν=5/2, and ν=7/3 fractional quantum Hall states (in the second Landau level). Here we present measurements of charge and neutral modes in these states. For both ν=7/3 and ν=8/3 states, we found a quasiparticle charge e=1/3 and an upstream neutral mode only in ν=8/3-excluding the possibility of non-abelian Read-Rezayi states and supporting Laughlin-like states. The absence of an upstream neutral mode in the ν=7/3 state also proves that edge reconstruction was not present in the ν=7/3 state, suggesting its absence also in ν=5/2 state, and thus may provide further support for the non-abelian anti-pfaffian nature of the ν=5/2 state.