No Arabic abstract
We present piezoresistance measurements in modulation doped AlAs quantum wells where the two-dimensional electron system occupies two conduction band valleys with elliptical Fermi contours. Our data demonstrate that, at low temperatures, the strain gauge factor (the fractional change in resistance divided by the samples fractional length change) in this system exceeds 10,000. Moreover, in the presence of a moderate magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of the two-dimensional system, gauge factors up to 56,000 can be achieved. The piezoresistance data can be explained qualitatively by a simple model that takes into account intervalley charge transfer.
Two-dimensional electrons in AlAs quantum wells occupy multiple conduction-band minima at the X- points of the Brillouin zone. These valleys have large effective mass and g-factor compared to the stan-dard GaAs electrons, and are also highly anisotropic. With proper choice of well width and by applying symmetry-breaking strain in the plane, one can control the occupation of different valleys thus rendering a system with tuneable effective mass, g-factor, Fermi contour anisotropy, and valley degeneracy. Here we review some of the rich physics that this system has allowed us to explore.
An AlAs two-dimensional electron system patterned with an anti-dot lattice exhibits a giant piezoresistance (GPR) effect, with a sign opposite to the piezoresistance observed in the unpatterned region. We trace the origin of this anomalous GPR to the non-uniform strain in the anti-dot lattice and the exclusion of electrons occupying the two conduction band valleys from different regions of the sample. This is analogous to the well-known giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect, with valley playing the role of spin and strain the role of magnetic field.
We report measurements of the spin susceptibility in dilute two-dimensional electrons confined to a 45$AA$ wide AlAs quantum well. The electrons in this well occupy an out-of-plane conduction-band valley, rendering a system similar to two-dimensional electrons in Si-MOSFETs but with only one valley occupied. We observe an enhancement of the spin susceptibility over the band value that increases as the density is decreased, following closely the prediction of quantum Monte Carlo calculations and continuing at finite values through the metal-insulator transition.
We report the observation of commensurability oscillations in an AlAs two-dimensional electron system where two conduction-band valleys with elliptical in-plane Fermi contours are occupied. The Fourier power spectrum of the oscillations shows two frequency components consistent with those expected for the Fermi contours of the two valleys. From an analysis of the spectra we deduce $m_l/m_t=5.2pm0.5$ for the ratio of the longitudinal and transverse electron effective masses.
We have realized an AlAs two-dimensional electron system in which electrons occupy conduction-band valleys with different Fermi contours and effective masses. In the quantum Hall regime, we observe both resistivity spikes and persistent gaps at crossings between the Landau levels originating from these two valleys. From the positions of the spikes in tilted magnetic field and measurements of the energy gaps away from the crossings, we find that, after occupation of the minority valley, the spin susceptibility drops rapidly, and the electrons possess a {it single} interaction-enhanced g-factor, despite the dissimilarity of the two occupied valleys.