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M. Shayegan

Publications and source records attributed to M. Shayegan.

196 records · Page 11Linked to original sources

Heat Capacity Evidence for the Suppression of Skyrmions at Large Zeeman Energy

Measurements on a multilayer two-dimensional electron system (2DES) near Landau level filling $ν$=1 reveal the disappearance of the nuclear spin contribution to the heat capacity as the ratio $\tilde{g}$ between the Zeeman and Coulomb energies exceeds a critical value $\tilde{g}_c \approx$0.04. This disappearance suggests the vanishing of the Skyrmion-mediated coupling between the lattice and the nuclear spins as the spin excitations of the 2DES make a transition from Skyrmions to single spin-flips above $\tilde{g}_c$. Our experimental $\tilde{g}_c$ is smaller than the calculated $\tilde{g}_c$=0.054 for an ideal 2DES; we discuss possible origins of this discrepancy.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Semicircle: An exact relation in the Integer and Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

We present experimental results on the quantized Hall insulator in two dimensions. This insulator, with vanishing conductivities, is characterized by the quantization (within experimental accuracy) of the Hall resistance in units of the quantum unit of resistance, h/e^2. The measurements were performed in a two dimensional hole system, confined in a Ge/SiGe quantum well, when the magnetic field is increased above the nu=1 quantum Hall state. This quantization leads to a nearly perfect semi-circle relation for the diagonal and Hall conductivities. Similar results are obtained with a higher mobility n-type modulation doped GaAs/AlGaAs sample, when the magnetic field is increased above the nu=1/3 fractional quantum Hall state.

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Microwave Resonance and Carrier-Carrier Interaction in Two-Dimensional Hole Systems at High Magnetic Field

Microwave frequency conductivity, Re($σ_{xx}$), of high quality two-dimensional hole systems (2DHS) in a large perpendicular magnetic field (B) is measured with the carrier density ($n_s$) of the 2DHS controlled by a backgate bias. The high B insulating phase of the 2DHS exhibits a microwave resonance that remains well-defined, but shifts to higher peak frequency ($f_{pk}$) as $n_s$ is reduced. Over a wide range of $n_s, f_{pk} \propto n_s^{-1/2}$ is observed for the two samples we measured. The data clearly indicate that both carrier-carrier interactions and disorder are indispensable in determining the dynamics of the insulator. The $n_s$ dependence of $f_{pk}$ is consistent with a weakly pinned Wigner crystal in which domain size increases with $n_s$, due to larger carrier-carrier interaction.

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Anomalous spin-splitting of two-dimensional electrons in an AlAs Quantum Well

We measure the effective Lande g-factor of high-mobility two-dimensional electrons in a modulation-doped AlAs quantum well by tilting the sample in a magnetic field and monitoring the evolution of the magnetoresistance oscillations. The data reveal that |g| = 9.0, which is much enhanced with respect to the reported bulk value of 1.9. Surprisingly, in a large range of magnetic field and Landau level fillings, the value of the enhanced g-factor appears to be constant.

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Wigner crystallization and metal-insulator transition of two-dimensional holes in GaAs/AlGaAs at B=0

We report the transport properties of a low disorder two-dimensional hole system (2DHS) in the GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure, which has an unprecedentedly high peak mobility of $7\times 10^5cm^2/Vs$, with hole density of $4.8\times 10^9 cm^{-2}<p<3.72\times 10^{10}cm^{-2}$ in the temperature range of $50mK<T<1.3K$. From their T, p, and electric field dependences, we find that the metal-insulator transition in zero magnetic field in this exceptionally clean 2DHS occurs at $r_s=35.1\pm0.9$, which is in good agreement with the critical $r_s$ for Wigner crystallization ${r_s}^c=37\pm 5$, predicted by Tanatar and Ceperley for an ideally clean 2D system.

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Universality at integer quantum Hall transitions

We report in this paper results of experimental and theoretical studies of transitions between different integer quantum Hall phases, as well as transition between the insulating phase and quantum Hall phases at high magnetic fields. We focus mainly on universal properties of the transitions. We demonstrate that properly defined conductivity tensor is universal at the transitions. We also present numerical results of a non-interacting electron model, which suggest that the Thouless conductance is universal at integer quantum Hall transitions, just like the conductivity tensor. Finite temperature and system size effects near the transition point are also studied.

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Magnetic Anisotropy in Quantum Hall Ferromagnets

We show that the sign of magnetic anisotropy energy in quantum Hall ferromagnets is determined by a competition between electrostatic and exchange energies. Easy-axis ferromagnets tend to occur when Landau levels whose states have similar spatial profiles cross. We report measurements of integer QHE evolution with magnetic-field tilt. Reentrant behavior observed for the $ν= 4$ QHE at high tilt angles is attributed to easy-axis anisotropy. This interpretation is supported by a detailed calculation of the magnetic anisotropy energy.

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Observation of Quantum Fluctuations of Charge on a Quantum Dot

We have incorporated an aluminum single electron transistor directly into the defining gate structure of a semiconductor quantum dot, permitting precise measurement of the charge in the dot. Voltage biasing a gate draws charge from a reservoir into the dot through a single point contact. The charge in the dot increases continuously for large point contact conductance and in a step-like manner in units of single electrons with the contact nearly closed. We measure the corresponding capacitance lineshapes for the full range of point contact conductances. The lineshapes are described well by perturbation theory and not by theories in which the dot charging energy is altered by the barrier conductance.

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Spontaneous Interlayer Charge Transfer near the Magnetic Quantum Limit

Experiments reveal that a confined electron system with two equally-populated layers at zero magnetic field can spontaneously break this symmetry through an interlayer charge transfer near the magnetic quantum limit. New fractional quantum Hall states at unusual total filling factors such as ν= 11/15 (= 1/3 + 2/5) stabilize as signatures that the system deforms itself, at substantial electrostatic energy cost, in order to gain crucial correlation energy by "locking in" separate incompressible liquid phases at unequal fillings in the two layers (e.g., layered 1/3 and 2/5 states in the case of ν= 11/15).

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Critical Behavior of Nuclear-Spin Diffusion in GaAs/AlGaAs Heterostructures near Landau Level Filling ν=1

Thermal measurements on a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure reveal that the state of the confined two-dimensional electrons dramatically affects the nuclear-spin diffusion near Landau level filling factor ν=1. The experiments provide quantitative evidence that the sharp peak in the temperature dependence of heat capacity near ν=1 is due to an enhanced nuclear-spin diffusion from the GaAs quantum wells into the AlGaAs barriers. We discuss the physical origin of this enhancement in terms the possible Skyrme solid-liquid phase transition.

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A different view of the quantum Hall plateau-to-plateau transitions

We demonstrate experimentally that the transitions between adjacent integer quantum Hall (QH) states are equivalent to a QH-to-insulator transition occurring in the top Landau level, in the presence of an inert background of the other completely filled Landau levels, each contributing a single unit of quantum conductance, $e^{2}/h$, to the total Hall conductance of the system.

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The Nature of the Hall Insulator

We have conducted an experimental study of the linear transport properties of the magnetic-field induced insulating phase which terminates the quantum Hall (QH) series in two dimensional electron systems. We found that a direct and simple relation exists between measurements of the longitudinal resistivity, $ρ_{xx}$, in this insulating phase and in the neighboring QH phase. In addition, we find that the Hall resistivity, $ρ_{xy}$, can be quantized in the insulating phase. Our results indicate that a close relation exists between the conduction mechanism in the insulator and in the QH liquid.

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Phonon Emission from a 2D Electron Gas: Evidence of Transition to the Hydrodynamic Regime

Using as a thermometer the temperature dependent magneto-transport of a two-dimensional electron gas, we find that effective temperature scales with current as $T_{\rm e} \sim I^a$, where $a=0.4 \pm 2\%$ in the {\it Shubnikov de-Haas} regime, and $0.53 \pm 2\%$ in both the {\it integer and fractional} quantum Hall effect. This implies the phonon energy emission rate changes from the expected $P\sim T^5$ to $P\sim T^4$. We explain this, as well as the dramatic enhancement in phonon emission efficiency using a hydrodynamic model.

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Giant Low Temperature Heat Capacity of GaAs Quantum Wells near Landau Level Filling $ν$=1

We report low temperature ($T$) heat capacity ($C$) data on a multiple-quantum-well GaAs/AlGaAs sample in the quantum Hall regime. Relative to its low field magnitude, $C$ exhibits up to 10^5-fold enhancement near $ν$=1 where Skyrmions arethe ground state of the confined two-dimensional electrons. We attribute the large $C$ to a Skyrmion-induced, strong coupling of the nuclear spin system to the lattice. The data are consistent with the Schottky nuclear heat capacity of Ga and As atoms in the quantum wells, except at very low $T$ where $C$ vs $T$ exhibits a remarkably sharp peak suggestive of a phase transition in the electronic system.

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Evidence for a Bilayer Quantum Wigner Solid

As the electronic charge distribution in a wide quantum well is tuned from a single-layer through an interacting bilayer configuration to weakly-coupled parallel layers, we observe an insulating phase concurrently manifesting a dramatic evolution. The data reveal that interlayer interactions, playing a crucial role, are able to stabilize a {\it correlated bilayer} electron insulator, thus providing tantalizing evidence of a pinned bilayer Wigner solid phase crystallizing at total filling factor $ν$ as large as 0.54 ($ν> \frac14$ in each layer).

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Evidence for charge-flux duality near the quantum Hall liquid to insulator transition

We examine the longitudinal, non-linear, current-voltage characteristics near the quantum Hall liquid to insulator transition and show that a simple mapping exists between the characteristics on the quantum Hall side and those on the insulating side of the transition. More precisely, at filling factors related by the law of corresponding states the current and voltage simply trade places. We interpret these observations as evidence for the existence, in the composite boson description, of charge-flux duality near disorder dominated transitions in quantum Hall systems. (Appearances notwithstanding, this is an experimental paper.)

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