Heterostructure Symmetry and the Orientation of the Quantum Hall Nematic Phases

Abstract

Clean two-dimensional electron systems in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures exhibit anisotropic collective phases, the quantum Hall nematics, at high Landau level occupancy and low temperatures. An as yet unknown native symmetry-breaking potential consistently orients these phases relative to the crystalline axes of the host material. Here we report an extensive set of measurements examining the role of the structural symmetries of the heterostructure in determining the orientation of the nematics. In single quantum well samples we find that neither the local symmetry of the confinement potential nor the distance between the electron system and the sample surface dictates the orientation of the nematic. In remarkable contrast, for two-dimensional electrons confined at a single heterointerface between GaAs and AlGaAs, the nematic orientation depends on the depth of the two-dimensional electron system beneath the sample surface.

9 pages, 5 figures. Minor revision to acknowledgements

References in corpus (1)

• Impact of spin-orbit coupling on quantum Hall nematic phases

Cited by in corpus (18)

• Observation of a transition from a topologically ordered to a spontaneously broken symmetry phase
• Nematic quantum phase transition of composite Fermi liquids in half-filled Landau levels and their geometric response
• Possible nematic to smectic phase transition in a two-dimensional electron gas at half-filling
• Reorientation of quantum Hall stripes within a partially filled Landau level
• Evidence for a new symmetry breaking mechanism reorienting quantum Hall nematics
• Onset of Quantum Criticality in the Topological-to-Nematic Transition in a Two-dimensional Electron Gas at Filling Factor $\nu =5/2$
• Reorientation of the stripe Phase of 2D Electrons by a Minute Density Modulation
• Anomalous Nematic States in High Half-Filled Landau Levels
• Effect of density on quantum Hall stripe orientation in tilted magnetic fields
• Competition of Pairing and Nematicity in the Two-Dimensional Electron Gas
• Microscopic details of stripes and bubbles in the quantum Hall regime
• Apparent temperature-induced reorientation of quantum Hall stripes
• Anomalous coupling between magnetic and nematic orders in quantum Hall systems
• Hidden Quantum Hall Stripes in Al${}_x$Ga${}_{1-x}$As/Al${}_{0.24}$Ga${}_{0.76}$As Quantum Wells
• Orientation of hole quantum Hall nematic phases in an out-of-plane electric field
• Quantum Hall stripes in high-density GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells
• Anomalous nematic-to-stripe phase transition driven by in-plane magnetic fields
• Even-denominator fractional quantum Hall states with spontaneously broken rotational symmetry