Reorientation of the stripe Phase of 2D Electrons by a Minute Density Modulation

Abstract

Interacting two-dimensional electrons confined in a GaAs quantum well exhibit isotropic transport when the Fermi level resides in the first excited ($N=1$) Landau level. Adding an in-plane magnetic field ($B_{||}$) typically leads to an anisotropic, stripe-like (nematic) phase of electrons with the stripes oriented perpendicular to the $B_{||}$ direction. Our experimental data reveal how a periodic density modulation, induced by a surface strain grating from strips of negative electron-beam resist, competes against the $B_{||}$-induced orientational order of the stripe phase. Even a minute ($<0.25\%$) density modulation is sufficient to reorient the stripes along the direction of the surface grating.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Possible nematic to smectic phase transition in a two-dimensional electron gas at half-filling
• Direct observation of composite fermions and their fully spin-polarized Fermi sea near $\nu =5/2$
• Bloch Ferromagnetism of Composite Fermions
• Geometric Resonance of Four-Flux Composite Fermions
• Effect of density on quantum Hall stripe orientation in tilted magnetic fields
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• Microscopic details of stripes and bubbles in the quantum Hall regime
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