No Arabic abstract
We report magnetotransport measurements of fractional quantum Hall states in an AlAs quantum well around Landau level filling factor nu = 3/2, demonstrating that the quasiparticles are composite Fermions (CFs) with a valley degree of freedom. By monitoring the valley level crossings for these states as a function of applied symmetry-breaking strain, we determine the CF valley susceptibility and polarization. The data can be explained well by a simple Landau level fan diagram for CFs, and are in nearly quantitative agreement with the results reported for CF spin polarization.
There is increasing experimental evidence for fractional quantum Hall effect at filling factor $ u=2+3/8$. Modeling it as a system of composite fermions, we study the problem of interacting composite fermions by a number of methods. In our variational study, we consider the Fermi sea, the Pfaffian paired state, and bubble and stripe phases of composite fermions, and find that the Fermi sea state is favored for a wide range of transverse thickness. However, when we incorporate interactions between composite fermions through composite-fermion diagonalization on systems with up to 25 composite fermions, we find that a gap opens at the Fermi level, suggesting that inter-composite fermion interaction can induce fractional quantum Hall effect at $ u=2+3/8$. The resulting state is seen to be distinct from the Pfaffian wave function.
In bilayer quantum Hall systems at filling fractions near nu=1/2+1/2, as the spacing d between the layers is continuously decreased, intra-layer correlations must be replaced by inter-layer correlations, and the composite fermion (CF) Fermi seas at large d must eventually be replaced by a composite boson (CB) condensate or 111 state at small d. We propose a scenario where CBs and CFs coexist in two interpenetrating fluids in the transition. Trial wavefunctions describing these mixed CB-CF states compare very favorably with exact diagonalization results. A Chern-Simons transport theory is constructed that is compatible with experiment.
Shubnikov-de Haas data is presented for a p-SiGe sample exhibiting strongly insulating behaviour at nu = 3/2. In addition to the fixed points defining a high field metal- insulator transition into this phase separate fixed points can also be identified for the nu = 3 --> 2 and 2 --> 1 Integer quantum Hall transitions. Another feature of the data, that the Hall resistivity approaches zero in the insulating phase, indicates it is not a re-entrant Hall insulator. The behaviour is explained in terms of the strong exchange interactions. At integer filling factors these cause the 0 uparrow and 1 downarrow Landau levels to cross and be well separated but at non-integer values of nu screening reduces exchange effects and causes the levels to stick together. It is suggested the insulating behaviour, and high field metal/insulator transition, is a consequence of the strong exchange interactions.
In two-dimensional electron systems confined to wide AlAs quantum wells, composite fermions around the filling factor $ u$ = 3/2 are fully spin polarized but possess a valley degree of freedom. Here we measure the energy needed to completely valley polarize these composite fermions as a function of electron density. Comparing our results to the existing theory, we find overall good quantitative agreement, but there is an unexpected trend: The measured composite fermion valley polarization energy, normalized to the Coulomb energy, decreases with decreasing density.
Spin excitations from a partially populated composite fermion level are studied above and below $ u=1/3$. In the range $2/7< u<2/5$ the experiments uncover significant departures from the non-interacting composite fermion picture that demonstrate the increasing impact of interactions as quasiparticle Landau levels are filled. The observed onset of a transition from free to interacting composite fermions could be linked to condensation into the higher order states suggested by transport experiments and numerical evaluations performed in the same filling factor range.