Heterostructure symmetry and the orientation of the quantum Hall nematic phases

Pollanen, J.; Cooper, K. B.; Brandsen, Sarah; Eisenstein, J. P.; Pfeiffer, L. N.; West, K. W.

doi:10.1103/physrevb.92.115410

Cited by 24 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Our recent measurements 26 revealed that the ground state at ν = 5/2 undergoes a pressure-driven quantum phase transition from the FQHS to a stripe phase [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] . In this experiment the two-dimensional electron gas was not exposed to an in-plane magnetic field or any other externally applied symmetry breaking fields 26 .…”

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Onset of quantum criticality in the topological-to-nematic transition in a two-dimensional electron gas at filling factor ν=5/2

et al. 2017

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Under hydrostatic pressure, the ground state of a two-dimensional electron gas at ν = 5/2 changes from a fractional quantum Hall state to the stripe phase. By measuring the energy gap of the fractional quantum Hall state and of the onset temperature of the stripe phase we mapped out a phase diagram of these competing phases in the pressure-temperature plane. Our data highlight the dichotomy of two descriptions of the half-filled Landau level near the quantum critical point: one based on electrons and another on composite fermions.The fractional quantum Hall state (FQHS) at the Landau level filling factor ν = 5/2 remains one of the most enigmatic ground states of the two-dimensional electron gas subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field 1,2 . This FQHS, similarly to all other FQHSs 3,4 , is topologically ordered, it is believed to belong to the Pfaffian universality class [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] , and it is thought to support non-Abelian excitations 5 . Within the framework of the composite fermion theory 18,19 , the ν = 5/2 FQHS can be understood as being due to pairing of composite fermions, a pairing driven by the residual attractive interactions between the composite fermions 5,20-25 .Our recent measurements 26 revealed that the ground state at ν = 5/2 undergoes a pressure-driven quantum phase transition from the FQHS to a stripe phase [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] . In this experiment the two-dimensional electron gas was not exposed to an in-plane magnetic field or any other externally applied symmetry breaking fields 26 . This phase transition is intriguing since it does not belong the class of topological phase transitions in which both phases involved are topologically non-trivial [38][39][40][41][42][43] . Indeed, these two phases have fundamentally different orders: the ν = 5/2 FQHS is topologically ordered, while the stripe phase is a traditional broken symmetry phase supporting nematic order [44][45][46] .In this Rapid Communication we present finite temperature measurements of the FQHS and the pressureinduced stripe phase at ν = 5/2. The obtained data allows us to extract energy scales of these two phases, the energy gap of the ν = 5/2 FQHS and the onset temperature of the stripe phase, in particular. Using these quantities we trace a phase diagram in the pressuretemperature plane. This phase diagram is a first example of a diagram exhibiting quantum criticality due to the competition of a topological and a traditional broken symmetry phase. Theoretical details of the transition studied have not yet been worked out. We therefore expect our results to motivate future work on competing phases in topological materials.We measured a two-dimensional electron gas with a density of n = 2.8 × 10 11 cm −2 and mobility of µ = 15 × 10 6 cm 2 /Vs confined to GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well 26,47,48 . The sample was mounted in a pressure clamp cell 49 . As shown in the Supplemental Material at 50 , both the electron density and the mobility decrease with an increasing pressure 51...

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Onset of quantum criticality in the topological-to-nematic transition in a two-dimensional electron gas at filling factor ν=5/2

et al. 2017

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“…Stripe phases stem from the competition between (long-range) repulsive and (short-range) attractive components of Coulomb interaction and can be viewed as a unidirectional charge density wave consisting of stripe regions with either higher or lower integer filling factors. While native stripes are usually aligned along the 110 crystal direction 12 , what exactly determines such preferred orientation remains a mystery [13][14][15] .…”

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“…Second, we recall that the native stripes align along eitherŷ = 110 (most common scenario) orx = 110 orientation 15,22,23,28 but never otherwise. Moreover, there is strong evidence for the existence of two distinct minima in the native orientation potential along orthogonal directions 23 .…”

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“…28 , capping layer thickness 15 , and, most recently, weak periodic density modulation 30 . It is also known that the orientation can be history-dependent and be governed by the direction of a density 22 or a magnetic field 23 sweep.…”

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“…The oldest (and still the most popular) tool to reorient stripes is applying an inplane magnetic field [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] . Other parameters which were manipulated to change the orientation of stripes include electron density 22,28 , filling factor within a given Landau level 23,25 , electric current 29 , mechanical strain 14 , symmetry of the quantum confinement containing 2DEG…”

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Apparent temperature-induced reorientation of quantum Hall stripes

Shi

Zudov²,

Frieß

et al. 2017

Phys. Rev. B

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Our magnetotransport measurements of quantum Hall stripes in a high-quality GaAs quantum well in a slightly tilted magnetic field reveal that the orientation of stripes can be changed by temperature. Field-cooling and field-warming measurements, as well as observation of hysteresis at intermediate temperatures allow us to conclude that the observed temperature-induced reorientation of stripes is owing to the existence of two distinct minima in the symmetry-breaking potential. We also find that the native symmetry-breaking mechanism does not depend on temperature and that low-temperature magnetotransport data should be treated with caution as they do not necessarily reveal the true ground state, even in the absence of hysteresis

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The Quantum Hall Nematic Phase

Schreiber

2019

Ground States of the Two-Dimensional Electron System at Half-Filling Under Hydrostatic Pressure

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Heterostructure symmetry and the orientation of the quantum Hall nematic phases

Cited by 24 publications

References 30 publications

Onset of quantum criticality in the topological-to-nematic transition in a two-dimensional electron gas at filling factor ν=5/2

Onset of quantum criticality in the topological-to-nematic transition in a two-dimensional electron gas at filling factor ν=5/2

Apparent temperature-induced reorientation of quantum Hall stripes

The Quantum Hall Nematic Phase

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