Tunneling at v_T = 1 in Quantum Hall Bilayers

Abstract

Interlayer tunneling measurements in the strongly correlated bilayer quantized Hall phase at ν_T = 1 are reported. The maximum, or critical, current for tunneling at ν_T = 1 is shown to be a well-defined global property of the coherent phase, insensitive to extrinsic circuit effects and the precise configuration used to measure it, but also exhibiting a surprising scaling behavior with temperature. Comparisons between the experimentally observed tunneling characteristics and a recent theory are favorable at high temperatures, but not at low temperatures where the tunneling closely resembles the dc Josephson effect. The zero-bias tunneling resistance becomes extremely small at low temperatures, vastly less than that observed at zero magnetic field, but nonetheless remains finite. The temperature dependence of this tunneling resistance is similar to that of the ordinary in-plane resistivity of the quantum Hall phase.