Observation of a transition from a topologically ordered to a spontaneously broken symmetry phase

Abstract

Until the late 1980s, phases of matter were understood in terms of Landau's symmetry breaking theory. Following the discovery of the quantum Hall effect the introduction of a second class of phases, those with topological order, was necessary. Phase transitions within the first class of phases involve a change in symmetry, whereas those between topological phases require a change in topological order. However, in rare cases transitions may occur between the two classes in which the vanishing of the topological order is accompanied by the emergence of a broken symmetry. Here, we report the existence of such a transition in a two-dimensional electron gas hosted by a GaAs/AlGaAs crystal. When tuned by hydrostatic pressure, the $\nu =5/2$ fractional quantum Hall state, believed to be a prototype non-Abelian topological phase, gives way to a quantum Hall nematic phase. Remarkably, this nematic phase develops spontaneously, in the absence of any externally applied symmetry breaking fields.

References in corpus (15)

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• Crystalline order in superfluid 3He films
• Tilt-Induced Anisotropic to Isotropic Phase Transition at $\nu =5/2$
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• Impact of spin-orbit coupling on quantum Hall nematic phases
• Heterostructure Symmetry and the Orientation of the Quantum Hall Nematic Phases
• Phase diagram and edge states of the $\nu =5/2$ fractional quantum Hall state with Landau level mixing and finite well thickness
• The Weakly Coupled Pfaffian as a Type I Quantum Hall Liquid
• Impact of the modulation doping layer on the ν=5/2 anisotropy
• Spin Transition in the ν=8/3 Fractional Quantum Hall Effect
• Competing quantum Hall phases in the second Landau level in low density limit

Cited by in corpus (65)

• Modified MBE hardware and techniques and role of gallium purity for attainment of two dimensional electron gas mobility >35 x10^6 cm^2/Vs in AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wells grown by MBE
• Competing states for the fractional quantum Hall effect in the 1/3-filled second Landau level
• Integer and Fractional Quantum Hall effect in Ultra-high Quality Few-layer Black Phosphorus Transistors
• Investigating anisotropic quantum Hall states with bi-metric geometry
• Generalized Pseudopotentials for the Anisotropic Fractional Quantum Hall Effect
• Interplay between topology and correlations in the second moiré band of twisted bilayer MoTe2
• A cascade of phase transitions in an orbitally mixed half-filled Landau level
• Evidence of a fractional quantum Hall nematic phase in a microscopic model
• Quantum Entanglement as a Diagnostic of Phase Transitions in Disordered Fractional Quantum Hall Liquids
• Nematic quantum phase transition of composite Fermi liquids in half-filled Landau levels and their geometric response
• Exact results for model wave functions of anisotropic composite fermions in the fractional quantum Hall effect
• Fractional quantum Hall systems near nematicity: bimetric theory, composite fermions, and Dirac brackets
• Transference of Fermi Contour Anisotropy to Composite Fermions
• Electron-Electron Interactions and the Paired-to-Nematic Quantum Phase Transition in the Second Landau Level
• Possible nematic to smectic phase transition in a two-dimensional electron gas at half-filling
• Pomeranchuk Instability of Composite Fermi Liquids
• Probing Geometric Excitations of Fractional Quantum Hall States on Quantum Computers
• Unconventional anisotropic even-denominator fractional quantum Hall state in a system with mass anisotropy
• 3/2 Fractional Quantum Hall Plateau in Confined Two-Dimensional Electron Gas
• Numerical study of anisotropy in a composite Fermi liquid
• Competing charge density waves probed by non-linear transport and noise in the second and third Landau levels
• Anisotropy Driven Transition from Moore-Read State to Quantum Hall Stripes
• Microscopic Model for Fractional Quantum Hall Nematics
• Microscopic theory for nematic fractional quantum Hall effect
• Widely Tunable Quantum Phase Transition from Moore-Read to Composite Fermi Liquid in Bilayer Graphene
• Fractional quantum Hall phases of bosons with tunable interactions: From the Laughlin liquid to a fractional Wigner crystal
• Finite Temperature Behavior in the Second Landau Level of the Two-dimensional Electron Gas
• Valley-Polarized quantum Hall phase in a strain-controlled Dirac system
• Complete spin phase diagram of the fractional quantum Hall liquid
• Onset of Quantum Criticality in the Topological-to-Nematic Transition in a Two-dimensional Electron Gas at Filling Factor $\nu =5/2$
• Pair-Density-Wave Order and Paired Fractional Quantum Hall Fluids
• Reorientation of the stripe Phase of 2D Electrons by a Minute Density Modulation
• Effect of density on quantum Hall stripe orientation in tilted magnetic fields
• Nematic fluctuations balancing the zoo of phases in half-filled quantum Hall systems
• Nature of continuous phase transitions in interacting topological insulators
• Fractional quantum Hall effect at the filling factor $\nu =5/2$
• An Anomalous Reentrant 5/2 Quantum Hall Phase at Moderate Landau-Level-Mixing Strength
• Thermodynamic evidence for field-angle dependent Majorana gap in a Kitaev spin liquid
• Competition of Pairing and Nematicity in the Two-Dimensional Electron Gas
• Intertwined Order in Fractional Chern Insulators from Finite-Momentum Pairing of Composite Fermions
• Geometry of flux attachment in anisotropic fractional quantum Hall states
• Phase transition and intrinsic metric of the dipolar fermions in quantum Hall regime
• Microscopic Diagnosis of Universal Geometric Responses in Fractional Quantum Hall Liquids
• From Fractional Quantum Anomalous Hall Smectics to Polar Smectic Metals: Nontrivial Interplay Between Electronic Liquid Crystal Order and Topological Order in Correlated Topological Flat Bands
• Interaction between Surface Acoustic Wave and Quantum Hall Effects
• Highly-Anisotropic Even-Denominator Fractional Quantum Hall State in an Orbitally-Coupled Half-Filled Landau Level
• In-plane electric fields and the $\nu =\frac{5}{2}$ fractional quantum Hall effect in a disk geometry
• Universal collective modes in 2 dimensional chiral superfluids
• Morphing of 2D Hole Systems at $\nu =3/2$ in Parallel Magnetic Fields: Compressible, Stripe, and Fractional Quantum Hall Phases
• Anomalous coupling between magnetic and nematic orders in quantum Hall systems
• Charge density waves and their transitions in anisotropic quantum Hall systems
• Possible continuous transition from fractional quantum Hall to stripe phase at ${\nu }_e=7/3$
• Finite-thickness effect and spin polarization of the even-denominator fractional quantum Hall states
• Nematic order on the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator
• Collective excitations of quantum Hall states under tilted magnetic field
• Re-Symmetrizing the Broken Symmetry with Isotropic Hydrostatic Pressure
• Few-body collective excitations beyond Kohn's theorem in quantum Hall systems
• Non-Abelian $\nu =1/2$ quantum Hall state in ${\Gamma }_8$ Valence Band Hole Liquid
• Orientation of hole quantum Hall nematic phases in an out-of-plane electric field
• $2{\mathbf{k}}_{\mathbf{F}}$ Density Wave Instability of Composite Fermi Liquid
• Even-denominator fractional quantum Hall states with spontaneously broken rotational symmetry
• Negative permittivity attests to local attractive interactions in bubble and stripe phases
• Disorder-driven phase transitions in bosonic fractional quantum Hall liquids
• Exploring Quantum Hall Physics at Ultra-Low Temperatures and at High Pressures
• Heterostructure design to achieve high quality, high density GaAs 2D electron system with $g$-factor tending to zero