Nonlinear response of a MgZnO/ZnO heterostructure close to zero bias

We report on magnetotransport properties of a MgZnO/ZnO heterostructure subjected to weak direct currents. We find that in the regime of overlapping Landau levels, the differential resistivity acquires a quantum correction proportional to both the square of the current and the Dingle factor. The analysis shows that the correction to the differential resistivity is dominated by a current-induced modification of the electron distribution function and allows us to access both quantum and inelastic scattering rates.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

The microscopic nature of localization in the quantum Hall effect

The quantum Hall effect arises from the interplay between localized and extended states that form when electrons, confined to two dimensions, are subject to a perpendicular magnetic field. The effect involves exact quantization of all the electronic transport properties due to particle localization. In the conventional theory of the quantum Hall effect, strong-field localization is associated with a single-particle drift motion of electrons along contours of constant disorder potential. Transport experiments that probe the extended states in the transition regions between quantum Hall phases have been used to test both the theory and its implications for quantum Hall phase transitions. Although several experiments on highly disordered samples have affirmed the validity of the single-particle picture, other experiments and some recent theories have found deviations from the predicted universal behaviour. Here we use a scanning single-electron transistor to probe the individual localized states, which we find to be strikingly different from the predictions of single-particle theory. The states are mainly determined by Coulomb interactions, and appear only when quantization of kinetic energy limits the screening ability of electrons. We conclude that the quantum Hall effect has a greater diversity of regimes and phase transitions than predicted by the single-particle framework. Our experiments suggest a unified picture of localization in which the single-particle model is valid only in the limit of strong disorder