Microwave-resonance-induced magnetooscillations and vanishing resistance states in multisubband two-dimensional electron systems

The dc magnetoconductivity of the multisubband two-dimensional electron system formed on the liquid helium surface in the presence of resonant microwave irradiation is described, and a new mechanism of the negative linear response conductivity is studied using the self-consistent Born approximation. Two kinds of scatterers (vapor atoms and capillary wave quanta) are considered. Besides a conductivity modulation expected near the points, where the excitation frequency for inter-subband transitions is commensurate with the cyclotron frequency, a sign-changing correction to the linear conductivity is shown to appear for usual quasi-elastic inter-subband scattering, if the collision broadening of Landau levels is much smaller than thermal energy. The decay heating of the electron system near the commensurability points leads to magnetooscillations of electron temperature, which are shown to increase the importance of the sign-changing correction. The line shape of magnetoconductivity oscillations calculated for wide ranges of temperature and magnetic field is in a good accordance with experimental observations.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

Photon-assisted scattering and magnetoconductivity oscillations in a strongly correlated 2D electron system formed on the surface of liquid helium

The influence of strong internal forces on photon-assisted scattering and on the displacement mechanism of magnetoconductivity oscillations in a two-dimensional (2D) electron gas is theoretically studied. The theory is applied to the highly correlated system of surface electrons on liquid helium under conditions that the microwave frequency is substantially different from inter-subband resonance frequencies. A strong dependence of the amplitude of magnetoconductivity oscillations on the electron density is established. The possibility of experimental observation of such oscillations caused by photon-assisted scattering is discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

Photon-induced vanishing of magnetoconductance in 2D electrons on liquid He

We report on a novel transport phenomenon realized by optical pumping in surface state electrons on helium subjected to perpendicular magnetic fields. The electron dynamics is governed by the photon-induced excitation and scattering-mediated transitions between electric subbands. In a range of magnetic fields, we observe vanishing longitudinal conductivity sigma_xx. Our result suggests the existence of radiation-induced zero-resistance states in the nondegenerate 2D electron system.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

The fine structure of microwave-induced magneto-oscillations in photoconductivity of the two-dimensional electron system formed on a liquid-helium surface

The influence of the inelastic nature of electron scattering by surface excitations of liquid helium (ripplons) on the shape of magnetoconductivity oscillations induced by resonance microwave (MW) excitation is theoretically studied. The MW field provides a substantial filling of the first excited surface subband which sparks off inter-subband electron scattering by ripplons. This scattering is the origin of magneto-oscillations in the momentum relaxation rate. The inelastic effect becomes important when the energy of a ripplon involved compares with the collision broadening of Landau levels. Usually, such a condition is realized only at sufficiently high magnetic fields. On the contrary, the inelastic nature of inter-subband scattering is shown to be more important in a lower magnetic field range because of the new enhancement factor: the ratio of the inter-subband transition frequency to the cyclotron frequency. This inelastic effect affects strongly the shape of conductivity oscillations which acquires an additional wavy feature (a mixture of splitting and inversion) in the vicinity of the level-matching points where the above noted ratio is close to an integer.Comment: 10 pages 6 figure