Observation of the Ettingshausen effect in quantum Hall systems

Evidence of the Ettingshausen effect in the breakdown regime of the integer quantum Hall effect has been observed in a GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional electron system. Resistance of micro Hall bars attached to both edges of a current channel shows remarkable asymmetric behaviors which indicate an electron temperature difference between the edges. The sign of the difference depends on the direction of the electric current and the polarity of the magnetic field. The results are consistent with the recent theory of Akera.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Hydrodynamic Equation for the Breakdown of the Quantum Hall Effect in a Uniform Current

The hydrodynamic equation for the spatial and temporal evolution of the electron temperature T_e in the breakdown of the quantum Hall effect at even-integer filling factors in a uniform current density j is derived from the Boltzmann-type equation, which takes into account electron-electron and electron-phonon scatterings. The derived equation has a drift term, which is proportional to j and to the first spatial derivative of T_e. Applied to the spatial evolution of T_e in a sample with an abrupt change of the width along the current direction, the equation gives a distinct dependence on the current direction as well as a critical relaxation, in agreement with the recent experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 1 Postscript figure, corrected equations, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 70 (2001) No.

Theory of Current-Induced Breakdown of the Quantum Hall Effect

By studying the quantum Hall effect of stationary states with high values of injected current using a von Neumann lattice representation, we found that broadening of extended state bands due to a Hall electric field occurs and causes the breakdown of the quantum Hall effect. The Hall conductance agrees with a topological invariant that is quantized exactly below a critical field and is not quantized above a critical field. The critical field is proportional to $B^{3/2}$ and is enhanced substantially if the extended states occupy a small fraction of the system.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX, final version to appear in PR

Electronic Processes at the Breakdown of the Quantum Hall Effect

Microscopic processes giving the energy gain and loss of a two-dimensional electron system in long-range potential fluctuations are studied theoretically at the breakdown of the quantum Hall effect in the case of even-integer filling factors. The Coulomb scattering within a broadened Landau level is proposed to give the gain, while the phonon scattering to give the loss. The energy balance equation shows that the electron temperature T_e and the diagonal conductivity sigma_{xx} exhibit a bistability above the lower critical electric field E_{c1}. Calculated values of E_{c1} as well as T_e and sigma_{xx} at E_{c1} are in agreement with the observed values in their orders of magnitude.Comment: 4 pages, 2 Postscript figures, submitted to the Journal of the Physical Society of Japa

Ground State at Low Landau Level Filling Factors in Two-Dimensional Systems of GaAs/AlGaAs Heterostructures in Strong Magnetic Fields(Research in High Magnetic Fields)

Integer and fractional quantum Hall effects are interesting phenomena in two-dimensional electron systems (2DES) in strong magnetic fields. In this paper, breakdown of the integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) at odd integer filling factors at 100 mK and temperature dependence of the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) around the filling facor ν=1/2 at temperatures between 100 mK and 1000 mK in magnetic fields up to 25 T are measured for the 2DES in two AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures. The results in the IQHE measurements are compared with results at the even filling factors and derive the effective g-factor of about 10 in this system. The results in the FQHE measurements at ν=1/2 shows a logarithmic temperature dependence of the conductivity which is expected in a weakly localized Fermion system in zero magnetic fields

Field-induced breakdown of the quantum Hall effect

A numerical analysis is made of the breakdown of the quantum Hall effect caused by the Hall electric field in competition with disorder. It turns out that in the regime of dense impurities, in particular, the number of localized states decreases exponentially with the Hall field, with its dependence on the magnetic and electric field summarized in a simple scaling law. The physical picture underlying the scaling law is clarified. This intra-subband process, the competition of the Hall field with disorder, leads to critical breakdown fields of magnitude of a few hundred V/cm, consistent with observations, and accounts for their magnetic-field dependence \propto B^{3/2} observed experimentally. Some testable consequences of the scaling law are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, Revtex, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Metal-Insulator Transition and Spin Degree of Freedom in Silicon 2D Electron Systems

Magnetotransport in 2DES's formed in Si-MOSFET's and Si/SiGe quantum wells at low temperatures is reported. Metallic temperature dependence of resistivity is observed for the n-Si/SiGe sample even in a parallel magnetic field of 9T, where the spins of electrons are expected to be polarized completely. Correlation between the spin polarization and minima in the diagonal resistivity observed by rotating the samples for various total strength of the magnetic field is also investigated.Comment: 3 pages, RevTeX, 4 eps-figures, conference paper (EP2DS-13

Dynamical Screening and Superconducting State in Intercalated Layered Metallochloronitrides

An essential property of layered systems is the dynamical nature of the screened Coulomb interaction. Low energy collective modes appear as a consequence of the layering and provide for a superconducting-pairing channel in addition to the electron-phonon induced attractive interaction. We show that taking into account this feature allows to explain the high critical temperatures (Tc~26K) observed in recently discovered intercalated metallochloronitrides. The exchange of acoustic plasmons between carriers leads to a significant enhancement of the superconducting critical temperature that is in agreement with the experimental observations

Magnetic von-Neumann lattice for two-dimensional electrons in the magnetic field

One-particle eigenstates and eigenvalues of two-dimensional electrons in the strong magnetic field with short range impurity and impurities, cosine potential, boundary potential, and periodic array of short range potentials are obtained by magnetic von-Neumann lattice in which Landau level wave functions have minimum spatial extensions. We find that there is a dual correspondence between cosine potential and lattice kinetic term and that the representation based on the von-Neumann lattice is quite useful for solving the system's dynamics.Comment: 21pages, figures not included, EPHOU-94-00

Integer Quantum Hall Effect with Realistic Boundary Condition : Exact Quantization and Breakdown

A theory of integer quantum Hall effect(QHE) in realistic systems based on von Neumann lattice is presented. We show that the momentum representation is quite useful and that the quantum Hall regime(QHR), which is defined by the propagator in the momentum representation, is realized. In QHR, the Hall conductance is given by a topological invariant of the momentum space and is quantized exactly. The edge states do not modify the value and topological property of $\sigma_{xy}$ in QHR. We next compute distribution of current based on effective action and find a finite amount of current in the bulk and the edge, generally. Due to the Hall electric field in the bulk, breakdown of the QHE occurs. The critical electric field of the breakdown is proportional to $B^{3/2}$ and the proportional constant has no dependence on Landau levels in our theory, in agreement with the recent experiments.Comment: 48 pages, figures not included, some additions and revision