Quantum critical behaviour of the plateau-insulator transition in the quantum Hall regime

High-field magnetotransport experiments provide an excellent tool to investigate the plateau-insulator phase transition in the integral quantum Hall effect. Here we review recent low-temperature high-field magnetotransport studies carried out on several InGaAs/InP heterostructures and an InGaAs/GaAs quantum well. We find that the longitudinal resistivity $\rho_{xx}$ near the critical filling factor $\nu_{c}$ ~ 0.5 follows the universal scaling law $\rho_{xx}(\nu, T) \propto exp[-\Delta \nu/(T/T_{0})^{\kappa}]$, where $\Delta \nu =\nu -\nu_{c}$. The critical exponent $\kappa$ equals $0.56 \pm 0.02$, which indicates that the plateau-insulator transition falls in a non-Fermi liquid universality class.Comment: 8 pages, accepted for publication in Proceedings of the Yamada Conference LX on Research in High Magnetic Fields (August 16-19, 2006, Sendai

Structural and magnetic transition in CeFeAsO: separated or connected?

Using an adapted Sn-flux growth technique we obtained comparatively large CeFeAsO single crystals of better quality than previously reported polycrystals or single crystals, as evidenced by much sharper anomalies at the structural and magnetic phase transitions as well as a much higher residual resistivity ratio of 12. In the magnetically ordered phase we observe a very pronounced metallic behavior of the in-plane resistivity, which excludes a Mott insulator regime at low temperature. The separation Delta_T = T_0 - T_N between structural and magnetic ordering temperatures decreases with increasing sample quality, from 18 K in the initial reports to 6 K in the present single crystals, demonstrating that this separation is not an intrinsic property of the RFeAsO systems. Our results indicate that the coupling between magnetic ordering and structural distortion is very similar in AFe2As2 and RFeAsO type of compounds, much more similar than previously thought. The implications of our experimental results give arguments both in favor and against the nematic phase model.Comment: published in PRB with the title 'Coupling between the structural and magnetic transition in CeFeAsO

Field-induced length changes in the spin-liquid candidate κ\kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2_2Cu2_2(CN)3_3

Measurements of the coefficient of thermal expansion on the spin-liquid candidate $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu$_2$(CN)$_3$ have revealed distinct and strongly anisotropic lattice effects around 6 K - a possible spin-liquid instability. In order to study the effects of a magnetic field on the low-temperature spin-liquid state, dilatometric measurements have been conducted both as a function of temperature at \emph{B} = const. and as a function of field at \emph{T} = const. While the 6 K anomaly is found to be insensitive to magnetic fields \emph{B} $\leq$ 10 T, the maximum field applied, surprisingly strong \emph{B}-induced effects are observed for magnetic fields applied along the in-plane \emph{b}-axis. Above a threshold field of 0.5 T < \emph{B}$_c$ $\leq$ 1 T, a jump-like anomaly is observed in the \emph{b}-axis lattice parameter. This anomaly, which is located at 8.7 K at \emph{B} = 1 T, grows in size and shifts to lower temperatures with increasing the magnetic field. Although the anomaly bears resemblance to a first-order phase transition, the lack of hysteresis suggests otherwise.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of ISCOM 2011, physica status solidi (c)(in press

New Insights into the Plateau-Insulator Transition in the Quantum Hall Regime

We have measured the quantum critical behavior of the plateau-insulator (PI) transition in a low-mobility InGaAs/GaAs quantum well. The longitudinal resistivity measured for two different values of the electron density follows an exponential law, from which we extract critical exponents kappa = 0.54 and 0.58, in good agreement with the value (kappa = 0.57) previously obtained for an InGaAs/InP heterostructure. This provides evidence for a non-Fermi liquid critical exponent. By reversing the direction of the magnetic field we find that the averaged Hall resistance remains quantized at the plateau value h/e^2 through the PI transition. From the deviations of the Hall resistance from the quantized value, we obtain the corrections to scaling.Comment: accepted proceedings of EP2DS-15 (to be published in Physica E

Temperature- and quantum phonon effects on Holstein-Hubbard bipolarons

The one-dimensional Holstein-Hubbard model with two electrons of opposite spin is studied using an extension of a recently developed quantum Monte Carlo method, and a very simple yet rewarding variational approach, both based on a canonically transformed Hamiltonian. The quantum Monte Carlo method yields very accurate results in the regime of small but finite phonon frequencies, characteristic of many strongly correlated materials such as, e.g., the cuprates and the manganites. The influence of electron-electron repulsion, phonon frequency and temperature on the bipolaron state is investigated. Thermal dissociation of the intersite bipolaron is observed at high temperatures, and its relation to an existing theory of the manganites is discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures; final version, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Evidence for Lattice Effects at the Charge-Ordering Transition in (TMTTF)2_2X

High-resolution thermal expansion measurements have been performed for exploring the mysterious "structureless transition" in (TMTTF)$_{2}$X (X = PF$_{6}$ and AsF$_{6}$), where charge ordering at $T_{CO}$ coincides with the onset of ferroelectric order. Particularly distinct lattice effects are found at $T_{CO}$ in the uniaxial expansivity along the interstack $\textbf{\textit{c*}}$-direction. We propose a scheme involving a charge modulation along the TMTTF stacks and its coupling to displacements of the counteranions X$^{-}$. These anion shifts, which lift the inversion symmetry enabling ferroelectric order to develop, determine the 3D charge pattern without ambiguity. Evidence is found for another anomaly for both materials at $T_{int}$ $\simeq$ 0.6 $\cdot$ $T_{CO}$ indicative of a phase transition related to the charge ordering

Low-temperature lattice effects in the spin-liquid candidate κ\kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2_2Cu2_2(CN)3_3

The quasi-two-dimensional organic charge-transfer salt $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$Cu$_2$(CN)$_3$ is one of the prime candidates for a quantum spin-liquid due the strong spin frustration of its anisotropic triangular lattice in combination with its proximity to the Mott transition. Despite intensive investigations of the material's low-temperature properties, several important questions remain to be answered. Particularly puzzling are the 6\,K anomaly and the enigmatic effects observed in magnetic fields. Here we report on low-temperature measurements of lattice effects which were shown to be particularly strongly pronounced in this material (R. S. Manna \emph{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{104}, 016403 (2010)). A special focus of our study lies on sample-to-sample variations of these effects and their implications on the interpretation of experimental data. By investigating overall nine single crystals from two different batches, we can state that there are considerable differences in the size of the second-order phase transition anomaly around 6\,K, varying within a factor of 3. In addition, we find field-induced anomalies giving rise to pronounced features in the sample length for two out of these nine crystals for temperatures $T <$ 9 K. We tentatively assign the latter effects to $B$-induced magnetic clusters suspected to nucleate around crystal imperfections. These $B$-induced effects are absent for the crystals where the 6\,K anomaly is most strongly pronounced. The large lattice effects observed at 6\,K are consistent with proposed pairing instabilities of fermionic excitations breaking the lattice symmetry. The strong sample-to-sample variation in the size of the phase transition anomaly suggests that the conversion of the fermions to bosons at the instability is only partial and to some extent influenced by not yet identified sample-specific parameters

Quantum criticality, particle-hole symmetry, and duality of the plateau-insulator transition in the quantum Hall regime

We report new experimental data on the plateau-insulator transition in the quantum Hall regime, taken from a low mobility InGaAs/InP heterostructure. By employing the fundamental symmetries of the quantum transport problem we are able to disentangle the universal quantum critical aspects of the magnetoresistance data (critical indices and scaling functions) and the sample dependent aspects due to macroscopic inhomogeneities. Our new results and methodology indicate that the previously established experimental value for the critical index (kappa = 0.42) resulted from an admixture of both universal and sample dependent behavior. A novel, non-Fermi liquid value is found (kappa = 0.57) along with the leading corrections to scaling. The statement of self-duality under the Chern Simons flux attachment transformation is verified.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Performance of Hamamatsu 64-anode photomultipliers for use with wavelength--shifting optical fibres

Hamamatsu R5900-00-M64 and R7600-00-M64 photomultiplier tubes will be used with wavelength--shifting optical fibres to read out scintillator strips in the MINOS near detector. We report on measurements of the gain, efficiency, linearity, crosstalk, and dark noise of 232 of these PMTs, of which 219 met MINOS requirements.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures. Accepted by Nucl. Inst. Meth.