2 research outputs found
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.