No Arabic abstract
We analyze the transport properties of bilayer quantum Hall systems at total filling factor $ u=1$ in drag geometries as a function of interlayer bias, in the limit where the disorder is sufficiently strong to unbind meron-antimeron pairs, the charged topological defects of the system. We compute the typical energy barrier for these objects to cross incompressible regions within the disordered system using a Hartree-Fock approach, and show how this leads to multiple activation energies when the system is biased. We then demonstrate using a bosonic Chern-Simons theory that in drag geometries, current in a single layer directly leads to forces on only two of the four types of merons, inducing dissipation only in the drive layer. Dissipation in the drag layer results from interactions among the merons, resulting in very different temperature dependences for the drag and drive layers, in qualitative agreement with experiment.
Measurements in GaAs hole bilayers with unequal layer densities reveal a pronounced magneto-resistance hysteresis at the magnetic field positions where either the majority or minority layer is at Landau level filling factor one. At a fixed field in the hysteretic regions, the resistance exhibits an unusual time dependence, consisting of random, bidirectional jumps followed by slow relaxations. These anomalies are apparently caused by instabilities in the charge distribution of the two layers.
Recent experiments on quantum Hall bilayers near total filling factor 1 have demonstrated that they support an ``imperfect two-dimensional superfluidity, in which there is nearly dissipationless transport at non-vanishing temperature observed both in counterflow resistance and interlayer tunneling. We argue that this behavior may be understood in terms of a {it coherence network} induced in the bilayer by disorder, in which an incompressible, coherent state exists in narrow regions separating puddles of dense vortex-antivortex pairs. A renormalization group analysis shows that it is appropriate to describe the system as a vortex liquid. We demonstrate that the dynamics of the nodes of the network leads to a power law temperature dependence of the tunneling resistance, whereas thermally activated hops of vortices across the links control the counterflow resistance.
We develop a nonperturbative approach to the quantum Hall bilayer (QHB) at u=1 using trial wave functions. We predict phases of the QHB for arbitrary distance d and, our approach, in a dual picture, naturally introduces a new kind of quasiparticles - neutral fermions. Neutral fermion is a composite of two merons of the same vorticity and opposite charge. For small d (i.e. in the superfluid phase), neutral fermions appear as dipoles. At larger d dipoles dissociate into the phase of the two decoupled Fermi-liquid-like states. This scenario is relevant for the experimental situation where impurities lock charged merons. In a translation invariant (clean) system, continuous creation and annihilation of meron-antimeron pairs evolves the QHB toward a paired phase. The quantum fluctuations fix the form of the pairing function to g(z)=1/z^*. A part of the description of the paired phase is the 2D superconductor i.e. BF Chern-Simons theory. The paired phase is not very distinct from the superfluid phase.
Bilayer quantum Hall systems at u =1 support an excitonic ground state. In addition to the usual charged quasiparticles, this system possesses a condensate degree of freedom: exciton transport. Detection of this neutral transport mode is facilitated by the use of the Corbino multiply-connected geometry in which charge transport is suppressed. We here summarize our recent experiments on Corbino devices which directly demonstrate exciton transport across the bulk of the incompressible u =1 quantum Hall state.
The condensation of excitons, bound electron-hole pairs in a solid, into a coherent collective electronic state was predicted over 50 years ago. Perhaps surprisingly, the phenomenon was first observed in a system consisting of two closely-spaced parallel two-dimensional electron gases in a semiconductor double quantum well. At an appropriate high magnetic field and low temperature, the bilayer electron system condenses into a state resembling a superconductor, only with the Cooper pairs replaced by excitons comprised of electrons in one layer bound to holes in the other. In spite of being charge neutral, the transport of excitons within the condensate gives rise to several spectacular electrical effects. This article describes these phenomena and examines how they inform our understanding of this unique phase of quantum electronic matter.