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L N Pfeiffer

Publications and source records attributed to L N Pfeiffer.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Bilayer quantum hall systems at nu(T)=1: coulomb drag and the transition from weak to strong interlayer coupling.

Measurements revealing anomalously large frictional drag at the transition between the weakly and strongly coupled regimes of a bilayer two-dimensional electron system at total Landau level filling factor nu(T)=1 are reported. This result suggests the existence of fluctuations, either static or dynamic, near the phase boundary separating the quantized Hall state at small layer separations from the compressible state at larger separations. Interestingly, the anomalies in drag seem to persist to larger layer separations than does interlayer phase coherence as detected in tunneling.

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Observation of narrow-band noise accompanying the breakdown of insulating states in high Landau levels.

Recent magnetotransport experiments on high mobility two-dimensional electron systems have revealed many-body electron states unique to high Landau levels. Among these are reentrant integer quantum Hall states which undergo sharp transitions to conduction above some threshold field. Here we report that these transitions are often accompanied by narrow- and broad-band noise with frequencies which are strongly dependent on the magnitude of the applied dc current.

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Electron-polariton scattering in semiconductor microcavities.

In semiconductor microcavities, electron-polariton scattering has been proposed as an efficient process that can drive polaritons from the bottleneck region to the ground state, achieving Bose amplification of the optical emission. We present clear experimental observation of this process in a structure that allows control of the electron density and we report substantial enhancement of photoluminescence. We show that this enhancement is more effective at higher temperatures due to the different way that electron scattering processes either broaden or relax polaritons.

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Spin susceptibility of an ultra-low-density two-dimensional electron system.

We determine the spin susceptibility in a two-dimensional electron system in GaAs/AlGaAs over a wide range of low densities from 2x10(9) cm(-2) to 4x10(10) cm(-2). Our data can be fitted to an equation that describes the density dependence as well as the polarization dependence of the spin susceptibility. It can account for the anomalous g factors reported recently in GaAs electron and hole systems. The paramagnetic spin susceptibility increases with decreasing density as expected from theoretical calculations.

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Resistivity of dilute 2D electrons in an undoped GaAs heterostructure.

We report resistivity measurements from 0.03 to 10 K in a dilute high mobility 2D electron system. Using an undoped GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction in a gated field-effect transistor geometry, a wide range of densities, 0.16 x 10(10) to 7.5 x 10(10) cm(-2), are explored. For high densities, the results are quantitatively shown to be due to scattering by acoustic phonons and impurities. In an intermediate range of densities, a peak in the resistivity is observed for temperatures below 1 K. This nonmonotonic resistivity can be understood by considering the known scattering mechanisms of phonons, bulk, and interface ionized impurities. Still lower densities appear insulating to the lowest temperature measured.

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Evidence for a new dissipationless effect in 2D electronic transport.

In an ultraclean 2D electron system (2DES) subjected to crossed millimeterwave (30-150 GHz) and weak (B<2 kG) magnetic fields, a series of apparently dissipationless states emerges as the system is detuned from cyclotron resonances. Such states are characterized by an exponentially vanishing low-temperature diagonal resistance and a classical Hall resistance. The activation energies associated with such states exceed the Landau level spacing by an order of magnitude. Our findings are likely indicative of a collective ground state previously unknown for 2DES.

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Evidence of Landau levels and interactions in low-lying excitations of composite fermions at 1/3<or= nu <or=2/5.

Excitation modes in the range 2/5>or=nu>or=1/3 of the fractional quantum Hall regime are observed by resonant inelastic light scattering. Spectra of spin-reversed excitations suggest a structure of lowest spin-split Landau levels of composite fermions that is similar to that of electrons. Spin-flip energies determined from spectra reveal significant composite fermion interactions. The filling factor dependence of mode energies displays an abrupt change in the middle of the range when there is partial population of a composite fermion level.

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Fractional quantum Hall effect of composite fermions.

In a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well of density 1 x 10(11) cm(-2) we observed a fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) at nu = 4/11 and 5/13, and weaker states at nu = 6/17, 4/13, 5/17, and 7/11. These sequences of fractions do not fit into the standard series of integral quantum Hall effects of composite fermions (CF) at nu = p/(2mp +/- 1). They rather can be regarded as the FQHE of CFs attesting to residual interactions between these composite particles. In tilted magnetic fields the nu = 4/11 state remains unchanged, strongly suggesting it to be spin polarized. The weak nu = 7/11 state vanishes quickly with tilt.

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Density-dependent spin polarization in ultra-low-disorder quantum wires.

There is controversy as to whether a one-dimensional (1D) electron gas can spin polarize in the absence of a magnetic field. Together with a simple model, we present conductance measurements on ultra-low-disorder quantum wires supportive of a spin polarization at B=0. A spin energy gap is indicated by the presence of a feature in the range (0.5-0.7)x2e(2)/h in conductance data. Importantly, it appears that the spin gap is not constant but a function of the electron density. Data obtained using a bias spectroscopy technique are consistent with the spin gap widening further as the Fermi level is increased.

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Correlation lengths of the wigner-crystal order in a two-dimensional electron system at high magnetic fields.

The insulator terminating the fractional quantum Hall series at low Landau level filling nu is generally taken to be a pinned Wigner crystal (WC), and exhibits a microwave resonance that is interpreted as a WC pinning mode. For a high quality sample at several densities, n, we find maxima in resonance peak frequency, f(pk), vs magnetic field, B. L, the correlation length of WC order, is calculated from f(pk). For each n, L vs nu tends at low nu toward a line with positive intercept; the fit is accurate over as much as a factor of 5 range of nu. The linear behavior is interpreted as due to B compressing the electron wave functions, to alter the effective electron-impurity interaction.

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Microwave resonance of the bubble phases in 1/4 and 3/4 filled high Landau levels.

We have measured the diagonal conductivity, sigma(xx), in the microwave regime of an ultrahigh mobility two dimensional electron system. We find a sharp resonance in Re[sigma(xx)] versus frequency when nu>4 and the partial filling of the highest Landau level, nu(*), is approximately 1/4 or 3/4 and temperatures <0.1 K. The resonance appears for a range of nu(*) from 0.20 to 0.38 and again from 0.64 to 0.80. The peak frequency f(pk) changes from approximately 500 to approximately 150 MHz as nu(*)=1/2 is approached. This range of f(pk) shows no dependence on nu where the resonance is observed. The quality factor, Q, of the resonance is maximum at about nu(*)=0.25 and 0.74. We interpret the resonance as due to a pinning mode of the bubble phase crystal.

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Transition from an electron solid to the sequence of fractional quantum Hall states at very low Landau level filling factor.

At low Landau level filling of a two-dimensional electron system, typically associated with the formation of an electron crystal, we observe local minima in Rxx at filling factors nu = 2/11, 3/17, 3/19, 2/13, 1/7, 2/15, 2/17, and 1/9. Each of these developing fractional quantum Hall (FQHE) states appears only above a filling-factor-specific temperature. This can be interpreted as the melting of an electron crystal and subsequent FQHE liquid formation. The observed sequence of FQHE states follows the series of composite fermion states emanating from nu = 1/6 and nu = 1/8.

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Observation of quantized Hall drag in a strongly correlated bilayer electron system.

The frictional drag between parallel two-dimensional electron systems has been measured in a regime of strong interlayer correlations. When the bilayer system enters the excitonic quantized Hall state at total Landau level filling factor nu(T) = 1, the longitudinal component of the drag vanishes but a strong Hall component develops. The Hall drag resistance is observed to be accurately quantized at h/e(2).

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Density-induced interchange of anisotropy axes at half-filled high Landau levels.

We observe density-induced 90 degrees rotations of the anisotropy axes in transport measurements at half-filled high Landau levels in the two dimensional electron system, where stripe states are proposed ( nu = 9/2, 11/2, etc.). Using a field effect transistor, we find the transition density to be 2.9x10(11) cm(-2) at nu = 9/2. Hysteresis is observed in the vicinity of the transition. We construct a phase boundary in the filling factor magnetic field plane in the regime 4.4<nu<4.6. An in-plane magnetic field applied along either anisotropy axis always stabilizes the low density orientation of the stripes.

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Tunneling spectroscopy of the elementary excitations in a one-dimensional wire.

The collective excitation spectrum of interacting electrons in one dimension has been measured by controlling the energy and momentum of electrons tunneling between two closely spaced, parallel quantum wires in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure while measuring the resulting conductance. The excitation spectrum deviates from the noninteracting spectrum, attesting to the importance of Coulomb interactions. An observed 30% enhancement of the excitation velocity relative to noninteracting electrons with the same density, a parameter determined experimentally, is consistent with theories on interacting electrons in one dimension. In short wires, 6 and 2 micrometers long, finite size effects, resulting from the breaking of translational invariance, are observed.

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Insulating and fractional quantum hall states in the first excited Landau level.

The observation of new insulating phases of two-dimensional electrons in the first excited Landau level is reported. These states, which are manifested as reentrant integer quantized Hall effects, exist alongside well-developed even-denominator fractional quantized Hall states at nu = 7/2 and 5/2 and new odd-denominator states at nu = 3+1/5 and 3+4/5.

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Experimental demonstration of Fermi surface effects at filling factor 5/2.

Using small wavelength surface acoustic waves (SAW) on ultrahigh mobility heterostructures, Fermi surface properties are detected at 5/2 filling factor at temperatures higher than those at which the quantum Hall state forms. An enhanced conductivity is observed at 5/2 by employing sub-0.5-microm SAW, indicating a quasiparticle mean-free path substantially smaller than that in the lowest Landau level. These findings are consistent with the presence of a filled Fermi sea of composite fermions, which may pair at lower temperatures to form the 5/2 ground state.

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Current-path properties of the transport anisotropy at filling factor 9/2.

To establish the presence and orientation of the proposed striped phase in ultra-high-mobility 2D electron systems at nu = 9/2, current path transport properties are determined by varying the separation and alignment of current and voltage contacts. Contacts aligned orthogonal to the proposed intrinsic striped phase produce voltages consistent with current spreading along the stripes; current driven along the proposed stripe direction results in voltages consistent with channeling along the stripes. Direct comparison is made to current spreading/channeling properties of artificially induced 1D charge modulation systems, which determines the 9/2 stripe direction.

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