Heterostructure symmetry and the orientation of the quantum Hall nematic phases
Abstract
Clean two-dimensional electron systems in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures exhibit anisotropic collective phases, the quantum Hall nematics, at high Landau-level occupancy and low temperatures. An as yet unknown native symmetry-breaking potential consistently orients these phases relative to the crystalline axes of the host material. Here we report an extensive set of measurements examining the role of the structural symmetries of the heterostructure in determining the orientation of the nematics. In single quantum well samples we find that neither the local symmetry of the confinement potential nor the distance between the electron system and the sample surface dictates the orientation of the nematic. In remarkable contrast, for two-dimensional electrons confined at a single heterointerface between GaAs and AlGaAs, the nematic orientation depends on the depth of the two-dimensional electron system beneath the sample surface.
Additional Information
©2015 American Physical Society. (Received 29 June 2015; published 9 September 2015) We thank I. Sodemann, A. MacDonald, S. Kivelson, and E. Fradkin for discussions. The Caltech portion of this work was supported by NSF Grant No. DMR-0070890, DOE Grant No. FG02-99ER45766, and the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, an NSF Physics Frontiers Center with support of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, through Grant No. GBMF1250. The work at Princeton University was funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through Grant No. GBMF 4420, and by National Science Foundation MRSEC Grant No. 1420541.Attached Files
Published - PhysRevB.92.115410.pdf
Submitted - 1506.08482v2.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 60696
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20151002-093843583
- NSF
- DMR-0070890
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- FG02-99ER45766
- Institute for Quantum Information and Matter (IQIM)
- NSF Physics Frontiers Center
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- GBMF1250
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- GBMF4420
- NSF
- 1420541
- Created
-
2015-10-02Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Institute for Quantum Information and Matter