Magnetotransport patterns of collective localization near $ν=1$ in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas

Abstract

We report complex magnetotransport patterns of the ν = 1 integer quantum Hall state in a GaAs/AlGaAs sample from the newest generation with a record high electron mobility. The reentrant integer quantum Hall effect in the flanks of the ν = 1 plateau indicates the formation of the integer quantum Hall Wigner solid, a collective insulator. Moreover, at a fixed filling factor, the longitudinal resistance versus temperature in the region of the integer quantum Hall Wigner solid exhibits a sharp peak. Such sharp peaks in the longitudinal resistance versus temperature so far were only detected for bubble phases forming in high Landau levels but were absent in the region of the Anderson insulator. We suggest that in samples of sufficiently low disorder sharp peaks in the longitudinal resistance versus temperature traces are universal transport signatures of all isotropic electron solids that form in the flanks of integer quantum Hall plateaus. We discuss possible origins of these sharp resistance peaks and we draw a stability diagram for the insulating phases in the ν-T phase space.