No Arabic abstract
One of the most fascinating ground states of an interacting electron system is the so-called Wigner crystal where the electrons, in order to minimize their repulsive Coulomb energy, form an ordered array. Here we report measurements of the critical filling factor ($ u_{C}$) below which a magnetic-field-induced, quantum Wigner crystal forms in a dilute, two-dimensional electron layer when a second, high-density electron layer is present in close proximity. The data reveal that the Wigner crystal forms at a significantly smaller $ u_{C}$ compared to the $ u_{C}$ ($simeq 0.20$) in single-layer two-dimensional electron systems. The measured $ u_{C}$ exhibits a strong dependence on the interlayer distance, reflecting the interaction and screening from the adjacent, high-density layer.
We study a bilayer system hosting exotic many-body states of two-dimensional electron systems (2DESs) in close proximity but isolated from one another by a thin barrier. One 2DES has low electron density and forms a Wigner solid (WS) at high magnetic fields. The other has much higher density and, in the same field exhibits fractional quantum Hall states (FQHSs). The WS manifests microwave resonances which are understood as pinning modes, collective oscillations of the WS within the small but finite ubiquitous disorder. Our measurements reveal a striking evolution of the pinning mode frequencies of the WS layer with the formation of the FQHSs in the nearby layer, evincing a strong coupling between the WS pinning modes and the state of the 2DES in the adjacent layer, mediated by screening.
By simultaneous measurements of the attenuation and velocity of surface acoustic waves propagating in proximity to a high-quality GaAs quantum well we study the complex AC conductance of the two-dimensional electron system. Focusing on the vicinity of the filling factor $ u=1/5$ we confirm that the insulating states formed closely to this value of $ u$ are pinned Wigner crystals.
The electronic excitations at the edges of a Hall bar not much wider than a few magnetic lengths are studied theoretically at filling $ u = 2$. Both mean-field theory and Luttinger liquid theory techniques are employed for the case of a null Zeeman energy splitting. The first calculation yields a stable spin-density wave state along the bar, while the second one predicts dominant Wigner-crystal correlations along the edges of the bar. We propose an antiferromagnetic Wigner-crystal groundstate for the edge electrons that reconciles the two results. A net Zeeman splitting is found to produce canting of the antiferromagnetic order.
Microwave pinning-mode resonances found around integer quantum Hall effects, are a signature of crystallized quasiparticles or holes. Application of in-plane magnetic field to these crystals, increasing the Zeeman energy, has negligible effect on the resonances just below Landau level filling $ u=2$, but increases the pinning frequencies near $ u=1$, particularly for smaller quasiparticle/hole densities. The charge dynamics near $ u=1$, characteristic of a crystal order, are affected by spin, in a manner consistent with a Skyrme crystal.
We have measured magnetic field dependences of the attenuation and velocity of surface acoustic waves in a high-mobility $n$-GaAs/AlGaAs structure with a wide quantum well. The results allowed us to find the complex conductance, $sigma(omega)$, of the heterostructure for different frequencies, temperatures and magnetic fields near filling factors $ u=1, 2$. Observed behavior of $sigma(omega)$ versus magnetic field outside close vicinities of integer fillings reveals an oscillation pattern indicative of the rich fractional quantum Hall effect. Our result is that in very close vicinities of integer filling factors the AC response of a high-mobility two-dimensional structures behaves as that of a two-dimensional system of localized electrons. Namely, both real and imaginary parts of the complex AC conductance at low temperatures agree with the predictions for the two-site model for a two-dimensional hopping system. Another result is the specific temperature dependences of $sigma(omega)$, which are extremely sensitive to the filling factor value. These dependences indicate a sharp crossover between the localized modes and a pinned Wigner crystal.