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Heterostructure symmetry and the orientation of the quantum Hall nematic phases

Pollanen, J. and Cooper, K. B. and Brandsen, S. and Eisenstein, J. P. and Pfeiffer, L. N. and West, K. W. (2015) Heterostructure symmetry and the orientation of the quantum Hall nematic phases. Physical Review B, 92 (11). Art. No. 115410. ISSN 1098-0121. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.92.115410. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20151002-093843583

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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.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.115410DOIArticle
http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.115410PublisherArticle
http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.08482arXivDiscussion Paper
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.
Group:Institute for Quantum Information and Matter
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
NSFDMR-0070890
Department of Energy (DOE)FG02-99ER45766
Institute for Quantum Information and Matter (IQIM)UNSPECIFIED
NSF Physics Frontiers CenterUNSPECIFIED
Gordon and Betty Moore FoundationGBMF1250
Gordon and Betty Moore FoundationGBMF4420
NSF1420541
Issue or Number:11
Classification Code:PACS number(s): 73.40.−c, 73.20.−r, 71.45.Lr
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.92.115410
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20151002-093843583
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20151002-093843583
Official Citation:Heterostructure symmetry and the orientation of the quantum Hall nematic phases J. Pollanen, K. B. Cooper, S. Brandsen, J. P. Eisenstein, L. N. Pfeiffer, and K. W. West Phys. Rev. B 92, 115410 http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.115410
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:60696
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: George Porter
Deposited On:02 Oct 2015 17:11
Last Modified:10 Nov 2021 22:37

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