Inter-layer excitonic coherence in a quantum Hall bilayer with negligible tunneling is monitored by measurements of low-lying spin excitations. At $ u_T =1$ new quasiparticle excitations are observed above a transition temperature revealing a competi
ng metallic phase. For magnetic fields above an onset Zeeman energy this metallic phase has full spin polarization. A phase diagram in the parameter space of temperature and Zeeman energy reveals that the transition temperature increases at higher fields. This unexpected result suggests intriguing impacts of spin polarization in the highly correlated phases.
Complexity in many-particle systems occurs through processes of qualitative differentiation. These are described by concepts such as emerging states with specific symmetries that are linked to order parameters. In quantum Hall phases of electrons in
semiconductor double layers with large inter-layer electron correlation there is an emergent many body exciton phase with an order parameter that measures the condensate fraction of excitons across the tunneling gap. As the inter-layer coupling is reduced by application of an in-plane magnetic field, this excitonic insulating state is brought in competition with a Fermi-metal phase of composite fermions (loosely, electrons with two magnetic flux quanta attached) stabilized by intra-layer electron correlation. Here we show that the quantum phase transformation between metallic and excitonic insulating states in the coupled bilayers becomes discontinuous (first-order) by impacts of different terms of the electron-electron interactions that prevail on weak residual disorder. The evidence is based on precise determinations of the excitonic order parameter by inelastic light scattering measurements close to the phase boundary. While there is marked softening of low-lying excitations, our experiments underpin the roles of competing orders linked to quasi-particle correlations in removing the divergence of quantum fluctuations.
