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Register a new userThermodynamic Compressibility of a Two-Dimensional Electron System: Signature of a Droplet State
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We have used a field-penetration method to measure thermodynamic compressibility of a moderately interacting two-dimensional electron system ($r_{s}$ $approx$ 0.5-3) in a three terminal GaAs/AlGaAs device, fabricated with an epitaxial lift-off technique. We found that the density and temperature dependencies of the compressibility are qualitatively different from that observed in earlier studies of the 2D hole system, where interaction energies are considerably stronger. We show that the observed characteristics can be described by the recently developed formalism for compressibility of the droplet state.
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What are the ground states of an interacting, low-density electron system? In the absence of disorder, it has long been expected that as the electron density is lowered, the exchange energy gained by aligning the electron spins should exceed the enhancement in the kinetic (Fermi) energy, leading to a (Bloch) ferromagnetic transition. At even lower densities, another transition to a (Wigner) solid, an ordered array of electrons, should occur. Experimental access to these regimes, however, has been limited because of the absence of a material platform that supports an electron system with very high-quality (low disorder) and low density simultaneously. Here we explore the ground states of interacting electrons in an exceptionally-clean, two-dimensional electron system confined to a modulation-doped AlAs quantum well. The large electron effective mass in this system allows us to reach very large values of the interaction parameter $r_s$, defined as the ratio of the Coulomb to Fermi energies. As we lower the electron density via gate bias, we find a sequence of phases, qualitatively consistent with the above scenario: a paramagnetic phase at large densities, a spontaneous transition to a ferromagnetic state when $r_s$ surpasses 35, and then a phase with strongly non-linear current-voltage characteristics, suggestive of a pinned Wigner solid, when $r_s$ exceeds $simeq 38$. However, our sample makes a transition to an insulating state at $r_ssimeq 27$, preceding the onset of the spontaneous ferromagnetism, implying that, besides interaction, the role of disorder must also be taken into account in understanding the different phases of a realistic dilute electron system.
Large fluctuations of conductivity with time are observed in a low-mobility two-dimensional electron system in silicon at low electron densities $n_s$ and temperatures. A dramatic increase of the noise power ($propto 1/f^{alpha}$) as $n_s$ is reduced below a certain density $n_g$, and a sharp jump of $alpha$ at $n_sapprox n_g$, are attributed to the freezing of the electron glass at $n_s = n_g$. The data strongly suggest that glassy dynamics persists in the metallic phase.
We study a two-dimensional electron system where the electrons occupy two conduction band valleys with anisotropic Fermi contours and strain-tunable occupation. We observe persistent quantum Hall states at filling factors $ u = 1/3$ and 5/3 even at zero strain when the two valleys are degenerate. This is reminiscent of the quantum Hall ferromagnet formed at $ u = 1$ in the same system at zero strain. In the absence of a theory for a system with anisotropic valleys, we compare the energy gaps measured at $ u = 1/3$ and 5/3 to the available theory developed for single-valley, two-spin systems, and find that the gaps and their rates of rise with strain are much smaller than predicted.
We report thermopower ($S$) and electrical resistivity ($rho_{2DES}$) measurements in low-density (10$^{14}$ m$^{-2}$), mesoscopic two-dimensional electron systems (2DESs) in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures at sub-Kelvin temperatures. We observe at temperatures $lesssim$ 0.7 K a linearly growing $S$ as a function of temperature indicating metal-like behaviour. Interestingly this metallicity is not Drude-like, showing several unusual characteristics: i) the magnitude of $S$ exceeds the Mott prediction valid for non-interacting metallic 2DESs at similar carrier densities by over two orders of magnitude; and ii) $rho_{2DES}$ in this regime is two orders of magnitude greater than the quantum of resistance $h/e^2$ and shows very little temperature-dependence. We provide evidence suggesting that these observations arise due to the formation of novel quasiparticles in the 2DES that are not electron-like. Finally, $rho_{2DES}$ and $S$ show an intriguing decoupling in their density-dependence, the latter showing striking oscillations and even sign changes that are completely absent in the resistivity.
The interaction between a single hole and a two-dimensional, paramagnetic, homogeneous electron gas is studied using diffusion quantum Monte Carlo simulations. Calculations of the electron-hole correlation energy, pair-correlation function, and the electron-hole center-of-mass momentum density are reported for a range of electron--hole mass ratios and electron densities. We find numerical evidence of a crossover from a collective Mahan exciton to a trion-dominated state in a density range in agreement with that found in recent experiments on quantum well heterostructures.
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