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Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Quantized Hall effect and quantum phase transitions in coupled two-layer electron systems

Song He, S. Das Sarma, X. C. Xie

Published Feb 15, 1993• 145 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We study the nature of the many-body electron states (and quantum phase transitions between them) in a double-quantum-well structure under a strong external magnetic field as a function of the materials parameters that define the two-layer system, namely, the thickness of individual layers, the separation between them, the individual well potentials confining the electrons, and the potential barrier between them. Motivated by two recent experiments, we consider two different situations, one with (almost) no quantum tunneling between the wells, and the other with substantial interwell quantum tunneling. We use the spherical system finite-size exact diagonalization technique for our calculations. By calculating the overlap of our exact small-system numerical wave functions with various (postulated) analytic wave functions, we comment on the nature of the incompressibility for various Landau-level filling factors (\ensuremath{\nu}). We investigate, in particular details, the possibility of \ensuremath{\nu}=1/2 (i.e., 1/4 average occupancy in each well), and, 1 (i.e., 1/2 occupancy in each well) incompressible states where \ensuremath{\nu} is the total filling factor for the system. We also provide results for the \ensuremath{\nu}=2/3 situation. Our conclusion, based on our use of realistic system parameters in our calculations, is that in both the recent experimental realizations of the \ensuremath{\nu}=1/2 fractional quantum Hall effect, the relevant ground state is the so-called ``331'' state which is stabilized by the competition between intrawell and interwell electron-electron correlations.We calculate for various double-quantum-well structural parameters and magnetic fields the \ensuremath{\nu}=1/2 excitation spectra and the energy gaps, and compare it with the recent experimental data, obtaining excellent quantitative agreement. We provide a detailed quantum phase diagram for the \ensuremath{\nu}=1 state as a function of the interwell Coulomb interaction and the symmetric-antisymmetric single-particle gap, and find that the \ensuremath{\nu}=1 quantum Hall effect observed in the two recent experiments, in contrast to the \ensuremath{\nu}=1/2 effect, belongs in some sense to two different universality classes. We also predict the existence of a reentrant \ensuremath{\nu}=1 quantum Hall effect in double-quantum-well systems.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.47.4394

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We study the nature of the many-body electron states (and quantum phase transitions between them) in a double-quantum-well structure under a strong external magnetic field as a function of the materials parameters that define the two-layer system, namely, the thickness of individual layers, the separation between them, the individual well potentials confining the electrons, and the potential barrier between them. Motivated by two recent experiments, we consider two different situations, one with (almost) no quantum tunneling between the wells, and the other with substantial interwell quantum tunneling. We use the spherical system finite-size exact diagonalization technique for our calculations. By calculating the overlap of our exact small-system numerical wave functions with various (postulated) analytic wave functions, we comment on the nature of the incompressibility for various Landau-level filling factors (\ensuremath{\nu}). We investigate, in particular details, the possibility of \ensuremath{\nu}=1/2 (i.e., 1/4 average occupancy in each well), and, 1 (i.e., 1/2 occupancy in each well) incompressible states where \ensuremath{\nu} is the total filling factor for the system. We also provide results for the \ensuremath{\nu}=2/3 situation. Our conclusion, based on our use of realistic system parameters in our calculations, is that in both the recent experimental realizations of the \ensuremath{\nu}=1/2 fractional quantum Hall effect, the relevant ground state is the so-called ``331'' state which is stabilized by the competition between intrawell and interwell electron-electron correlations.We calculate for various double-quantum-well structural parameters and magnetic fields the \ensuremath{\nu}=1/2 excitation spectra and the energy gaps, and compare it with the recent experimental data, obtaining excellent quantitative agreement. We provide a detailed quantum phase diagram for the \ensuremath{\nu}=1 state as a function of the interwell Coulomb interaction and the symmetric-antisymmetric single-particle gap, and find that the \ensuremath{\nu}=1 quantum Hall effect observed in the two recent experiments, in contrast to the \ensuremath{\nu}=1/2 effect, belongs in some sense to two different universality classes. We also predict the existence of a reentrant \ensuremath{\nu}=1 quantum Hall effect in double-quantum-well systems.
We examine the quantum phase diagram of the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) in the lowest two Landau levels in half-filled bilayer structures as a function of tunneling strength and layer separation, i.e., we revisit the lowest Landau-level filling factor 1/2 bilayer problem and make predictions involving bilayers in the half-filled second Landau level (i.e., filling factor 5/2). Using numerical exact diagonalization we investigate the important question of whether this system supports a FQHE described by the non-Abelian Moore-Read Pfaffian state in the strong-tunneling regime. In the lowest Landau level, we find that although, in principle, increasing (decreasing) tunneling strength (layer separation) could lead to a transition from the Abelian two-component Halperin 331 to non-Abelian one-component Moore-Read Pfaffian state, the FQHE excitation gap is relatively small in the lowest Landau level Pfaffian regime, and we establish that all so far observed FQHE states in half-filled lowest Landau level bilayers are most likely described by the Abelian Halperin 331 state. In the second Landau level we make the prediction that bilayer structures would manifest two distinct branches of incompressible FQHE corresponding to the Abelian 331 state (at moderate to low tunneling and large layer separation) and the non-Abelian Moore-Read Pfaffian state (at large tunneling and small layer separation). The observation of these two FQHE branches and the possible quantum phase transition between them will be compelling evidence supporting the existence of the non-Abelian Moore-Read Pfaffian state in the second Landau level. We discuss our results in the context of existing experiments and theoretical works.
The phase diagrams and phase transitions of a typical bilayer fractional quantum Hall (QH) system with filling factor ν = 2/3 at the layer balanced point are investigated theoretically by finite size exact-diagonalization calculations and an exactly solvable model. We find some basic features essentially different from the bilayer integer QH systems at ν = 2, reflecting the special characteristics of the fractional QH systems. The degeneracy of the ground states occurs depending on the difference between intralayer and interlayer Coulomb energies, when interlayer tunneling energy (ΔSAS) gets close to zero. The continuous transitions of the finite size systems between the spin-polarized and spin-unpolarized phases are determined by the competition between the Zeeman energy (ΔZ) and the electron Coulomb energy, and are almost not affected by ΔSAS.
Quantum Hall systems have a one-body energy spectrum consisting of dispersion-less Landau levels. Electron-electron interactions thus dominate in partially filled Landau levels, which exhibit a myriad of strongly correlated phases such as quantum hall ferromagnets and fractional quantum Hall phases. We study two examples of these phenomena. In the first project, we explore the ground state of a system with an interface between two semi-infinite regions with fillings ν= 4 and ν= 3 respectively. The width of the interface can be controlled by varying the background potential, which provides an additional tuning parameter. For a certain range of interaction strengths, the ν= 4 bulk is unpolarized whereas the ν= 3 bulk is fully polarized. In the parameter space spanned by the interaction strength and width of the interface, we find two phases at the interface. Phase A has spin as a good quantum number, and the long-wavelength spin edge excitations are gapped. In phase B, spin rotation symmetry is spontaneously broken at the mean-field level. Using symmetry arguments we find the effective theory near the interface of phase B. This effective theory is known to have gapless long-wavelength spin excitations. In the second project, we study the ground state of a tunnel-decoupled double-layer graphene system when both layers are undoped. We find a simple Hamiltonian in the continuum limit from symmetries of the system. Using the Hartree-Fock approximation we find a state with inter-layer coherence with broken layer U(1) symmetry. This phase becomes magnetized in presence of a non-zero Zeeman field. A first-order phase transition can be driven from the ferromagnetic phase to the magnetized inter-layer coherent phase by increasing the Zeeman field. We predict the number of gapless modes in the bulk.
The fractional quantum Hall effect was experimentally discovered in 1982. It was observed that the Hall conductivity σyx of a two-dimensional electron system is quantized, σyx=e2/3h, in the vicinity of the Landau level filling factor ν=1/3. In 1983, Laughlin proposed a trial many-body wave function, which he claimed described a “new state of matter”—a homogeneous incompressible liquid with fractionally charged quasiparticles. Here, I develop an exact diagonalization theory that allows one to calculate the energy and other physical properties of the ground and excited states of a system of N two-dimensional Coulomb interacting electrons in a strong magnetic field. I analyze the energies, electron densities, and other physical properties of the systems with N≤7 electrons continuously as a function of magnetic field in the range 1/4≲ν<1. The results show that both the ground and excited states of the system resemble a sliding Wigner crystal whose parameters are influenced by the magnetic field. Energy gaps in the many-particle spectra appear and disappear as the magnetic field changes. I also calculate the physical properties of the ν=1/3 Laughlin state for N≤8 and compare the results with the exact ones. This comparison, as well as an analysis of some other statements published in the literature, show that the Laughlin state and its fractionally charged excitations do not describe the physical reality, neither at small N nor in the thermodynamic limit. The results obtained shed new light on the nature of the ground and excited states in the fractional quantum Hall effect.
We numerically study a 52\frac{5}{2}25​ fractional quantum Hall system with even number of electrons using the exact diagonalization where both the strong Landau-level (LL) mixing and a finite width of the quantum well have been considered and adapted into a screened Coulomb interaction. With the principal component analysis, we are able to recognize a compressible-incompressible phase transition in the parameter space made of the magnetic field and the quantum well width by the competition between the first two leading components of the ground-state wave functions, which is consistent with the low-lying spectral feature and previous works in the odd-electron system. In addition, the presence of the subdominant third component suggests an incompressible transition occurring as the LL mixing strength grows into a certain parameter region associated with the ZnO experiments. We further investigate the strongly LL-mixed phase in this emerging region with the Hall viscosity, wave function overlaps, and the entanglement spectra. Results show it can be well described as a particle-hole symmetrized Pfaffian state with the dual topological properties of the Pfaffian and the anti-Pfaffian states.
We perform exact diagonalization studies for fractional quantum Hall states at filling factor 4/54/54/5 in a bilayer system, on a torus with various aspect ratios and angles. We find that in the absence of tunneling, two weakly coupled 2/52/52/5 layers undergo a phase transition into an interlayer-correlated regime, which is also Abelian with the fivefold degeneracy on the torus. In the limit of zero layer separation, this phase becomes a singlet in the pseudospin variable describing the layer degree of freedom. By studying the Chern-number matrix, we show that the KKK matrix describing the interlayer-correlated regime requires a matrix dimension larger than two and this regime is in particular not described by a Halperin state. A detailed analysis of possible $4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}4\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}K$ matrices having the requisite symmetries and quantum numbers shows that there is only one equivalence class of such matrices. A model wave function representing this universality class is constructed. The role of separate particle number conservation in both layers is discussed, and it is argued that this additional symmetry allows for the further distinction of two different symmetry-protected Abelian phases in the interlayer correlated regime. Interlayer tunneling breaks this symmetry and can drive the system into a single-layer regime when strong enough. A qualitative phase diagram in the tunneling-layer separation parameter space is proposed based on our numerical results.