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Josef Oswald

Publications and source records attributed to Josef Oswald.

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Revision of the edge channel picture for the integer quantum Hall effect

State of the art computing opens now a new window to the integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) regime, which enforces a major revision of the common knowledge accumulated so far. In our record-breaking application of the Hartree-Fock method we use up to 3000 electrons distributed over up to 5000 states for almost macroscopic system size of 1000x1000nm. In particular, the formation of compressible and in-compressible edge stripes turns out to develop essentially different from the common picture used so far. Oppositely to the theory of Chklovskii, Shklovskii and Glazman (CSG), the narrow channels, as assumed by the early models of the IQHE, do not widen up into wide compressible stripes. Instead, the wide compressible stripes of CSG transform into a mixture of clusters of full and empty spin-split LLs, while the cluster boundaries create a network of still narrow quantum channels sitting on top of the wide compressible stripes. On this background the early models based on narrow edge channels do not suffer from neglecting electron-electron interaction as falsely stated in the past. Quite oppositely, in contrast to the common believe, our modelling demonstrates that also the IQHE regime carries the hallmark of many-body physics which stabilizes narrow edge channels also in the presence of electron-electron interaction.

cond-mat.mes-hall

The microscopic picture of the integer quantum Hall regime

Computer modelling of the integer quantum Hall effect based on self-consistent Hartee-Fock calculations has now reached an astonishing level of maturity. Spatially-resolved studies of the electron density at near macroscopic system sizes of up to $\sim 1\ μm^2$ reveal self-organized clusters of locally fully filled and locally fully depleted Landau levels depending on which spin polarization is favoured. The behaviour results, for strong disorders, in an exchange-interaction induced $g$-factor enhancement and, ultimately, gives rise to narrow transport channels, including the celebrated narrow edge channels. For weak disorder, we find that bubble and stripes phases emerge with characteristics that predict experimental results very well. Hence the HF approach has become a convenient numerical basis to \emph{quantitatively} study the quantum Hall effects, superseding previous more qualitative approaches.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Microscopic details of stripes and bubbles in the quantum Hall regime

We use a fully self-consistent laterally resolved Hartree-Fock approximation for numerically addressing the electron configurations at higher Landau levels in the quantum Hall regime for near-macroscopic sample sizes. Our results give microscopic details of stripe- and bubble-like charge density modulations and show how these emerge depending on the filling factor. We find that there exists a region at the boundaries of the stripes and bubbles with a density modulation that corresponds to a filling factor around half filling. The microscopic details of these boundary regions determine the geometrical boundary conditions for aligning the charge density modulation either as stripes or bubbles. Transport is modelled using a non-equilibrium network model giving a pronounced anisotropy in direction of the injected current in the stripe regime close to half filling. We obtain a stripe period of 2.9 cyclotron radii. Our results indicate the dominance of many particle physics in the integer quantum Hall regime and provide an intuitive understanding of its consequences in strong magnetic fields.

cond-mat.str-el

Manifestation of many-body interactions in the integer quantum Hall effect regime

We use the self-consistent Hartree-Fock approximation for numerically addressing the integer quantum Hall (IQH) regime in terms of many-body physics at higher Landau levels (LL). The results exhibit a strong tendency to avoid the simultaneous existence of partly filled spin-up and spin-down LLs. Partly filled LLs appear as a mixture of coexisting regions of full and empty LLs. We obtain edge stripes with approximately constant filling factor $ν$ close to half-odd filling at the boundaries between the regions of full and empty LLs, which we explain in terms of the $g$-factor enhancement as a function of a locally varying $ν$ across the compressible stripes.The many-particle interactions follow a behaviour as it would result from applying Hund's rule for the occupation of the spin split LLs. The screening of the disorder and edge potential appears significantly reduced as compared to screening based on a Thomas-Fermi approximation. For addressing carrier transport, we use a non-equilibrium network model (NNM) that handles the lateral distribution of the experimentally injected non-equilibrium chemical potentials $μ$.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Exchange-mediated dynamic screening in the integer quantum Hall regime

We study many-body interaction effects in the spatially-resolved filling factor ($ν$) distribution for higher Landau levels (LLs) via self-consistent Hartree-Fock simulations in the integer quantum Hall (IQH) regime. Our results indicate a strong, interaction-induced tendency to avoid the simultaneous existence of partially filled spin-up and spin-down LLs. Rather, we find that such partially filled LLs consist of coexisting regions of full and empty LLs. At the boundaries between the regions of full and empty LLs, we observe edge stripes of nearly constant $ν$ close to half-odd filling. This suggests that the exchange interaction induces a behavior similar to a Hund's rule for the occupation of the spin split LLs. The screening of the disorder and edge potential appears significantly reduced as compared to static Thomas-Fermi screening. Our results are consistent with a local, lateral $ν$ dependence of the exchange-enhanced spin splitting. Hence, on quantum-coherent length scales as probed here, the electron system of the IQH effect behaves similar to a non-interacting single particle system - not because of the absence, but rather due to the dominance of many-body effects.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Microscopic Details of the Integer Quantum Hall Effect in an Anti-Hall Bar

Due to the lack of simulation tools that take into account the actual geometry of complicated quantum Hall samples there are lots of experiments that are not yet fully understood. Already some years ago R. G. Mani recorded a shift of the Hall resistance transitions to lower magnetic fields in samples of a Hall bar with embedded anti-Hall bar by using partial gating. We use a Nonequilibrium Network Model (NNM) to simulate this geometry and find qualitative agreement. Fitting the simulated resistance curves to the experimental results we can not only determine the carrier concentration but also obtain an estimate of the screened gating potential and especially the amplitude and lengthscale of potential fluctuations from charge inhomogenities which are not easily accessible by experiment.

cond-mat.mes-hall

A systematic study of non-ideal contacts in integer quantum Hall systems

In the present article we investigate the influence of the contact region on the distribution of the chemical potential in integer quantum Hall samples, as well as the longitudinal and Hall resistance as a function of the magnetic field. First we use a standard quantum Hall sample geometry and analyse the influence of the length of the leads where current enters/leaves the sample and the ratio of the contact width to the width of these leads. Furthermore we investigate potential barriers in the current injecting leads and the measurement arms in order to simulate non-ideal contacts. Second we simulate nonlocal quantum Hall samples with applied gating voltage at the metallic contacts. For such samples it has been found experimentally that both the longitudinal and Hall resistance as a function of the magnetic field can change significantly. Using the nonequilibrium network model we are able to reproduce most qualitative features of the experiments.

cond-mat.mes-hall

A new representation of the bulk current in the quantum Hall effect regime

In preceding papers a Landauer-Buttiker type representation of bulk current transport has been successfully used for the numerical simulation of the magneto transport of 2-dimensional electron systems in the high magnetic field regime. In this paper it is demonstrated, that this representation is in full agreement with a treatment of the bulk current transport as a tunneling process between magnetic bound states. Additionally we find a correspondence between our network representation and the bulk current picture in terms of mixed phases mapped on a checkerboard: At half filled Landau level (LL) coupled droplets of a quantum Hall (QH) liquid phase and coupled droplets of an insulator phase phase exist at the same time, with each of them occupying half of the sample area. Removing a single electron from to such a QH liquid droplet at half filling completes the QH transition to the next higher QH plateau. Adding a single electron to such a droplet at half filling completes the QH transition to the previous lower QH plateau. As a consequence, the sharpness of the QH plateau transitions on the magnetic field axis depends on the typical size of the droplets, which can be understood as a measure of the disorder in the sample.

cond-mat.mes-hall