Analysis of edge-state energies in the integer quantum Hall effect is carried out within the semiclassical approximation. When the system is wide so that each edge can be considered separatly, this problem is equivalent to that of a one dimensional harmonic oscillator centered at x=x_c and an infinite wall at x=0, and appears in numerous physical contexts. The eigenvalues E_n(x_c) for a given quantum number n are solutions of the equation S(E,x_c)=π[n+ γ(E,x_c)] where S is the WKB action and 0<γ<1 encodes all the information on the connection procedure at the turning points.
A careful implication of the WKB connection formulae results in an excellent approximation to the exact energy eigenvalues. The dependence of γ[E_n(x_c),x_c] \equiv γ_c (x_c) on x_c is analyzed between its two extreme values 1/2 as x_c goes to -infinity far inside the sample and 3/4 as x_c goes to infinity far outside the sample. The edge-state energies E_n(x_c) obey an almost exact scaling law of the form E_n(x_c)=4 [n+γ_n(x_c)] f(x_c/4 n +3) and the scaling function f(y) is explicitly elucidated
Recently, the semiclassical theory of the anomalous Hall effect induced by the Berry curvature in Bloch bands has been introduced. The theory operates only with gauge invariant concepts, that have a simple semiclassical interpretation and provides a clear distinction among various contributions to the Hall current. While the construction of such an approach to the anomalous Hall effect problem has been long sought, only the new semiclassical theory demonstrated the agreement with quantitative results of rigorous approaches based on the Green function techniques. The purpose of this work is to …
For the spin Hall effect arising from strong band-structure spin-orbit coupling, a semiclassical Boltzmann theory reasonably addressing the intriguing disorder effect called side-jump is still absent. In this paper we describe such a theory of which the key ingredient is the spin-current-counterpart of the semiclassical side-jump velocity (introduced in the context of the anomalous Hall effect). Applying this theory to spin Hall effects in a two-dimensional electron gas with giant Rashba spin-orbit coupling, we find largely enhanced spin Hall angle in the presence of magnetic impurities when o…
We study the dynamics of semiclassical electrons in (gapped) graphene in two complementary limits, i.e. in the Klein tunneling and valley Hall effect regimes, by scattering wave packets off armchair step potentials and by exposing wave packets to a uniform electric field, respectively. Our numerical wave packet simulation goes beyond semiclassical analytical approximations and standard Klein tunneling treatments and allows to study intra- and intervalley scattering processes. We find distinct Klein tunneling characteristics for low and tall steps, which include unusual Berry curvature induced …
Quantum Hall (QH) states are predicted to display an intriguing non-dissipative stress response to a shear deformation rate, a phenomenon variously known as asymmetric or Hall viscosity, or Lorentz shear response. Just as the QH effect results from the coupling of Chern-Simons fields of the effective theory to the electromagnetic field, so also Hall viscosity is found to arise from coupling of these fields to the 'metric' of the quadratic kinetic energy. In this paper I derive new physical insights for Hall viscosity by using an extended semiclassical approach to compute the conductivity of a …
The crossover from the semiclassical transport to quantum Hall effect is studied by examining a two-dimensional electron system in an AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure. By probing the magneto-oscillations, it is shown that the semiclassical Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) formulation can be valid even when the minima of the longitudinal resistivity approach zero. The extension of the applicable range of the SdH theory could be due to the damping effects resulting from disorder and temperature. Moreover, we observed plateau-plateau transition like behavior with such an extension. From our study, it is import…
The anomalous Hall effect (AHE) is a consequence of spin-orbit coupling in a ferromagnetic metal and is related primarily to density-matrix response to an electric field that is off-diagonal in band index. For this reason disorder contributions to the AHE are difficult to treat systematically using a semi-classical Boltzmann equation approach, even when weak localization corrections are disregarded. In this article we explicitly demonstrate the equivalence of an appropriately modified semiclassical transport theory which includes anomalous velocity and side jump contributions and microscopic K…
The linear intrinsic anomalous Hall effect (IAHE) and second-order IAHE have been intensively investigated in time-reversal broken systems. However, as one of the important members of the nonlinear Hall family, the investigation of third-order IAHE remains absent due to the lack of an appropriate theoretical approach, although the third-order extrinsic AHE has been studied within the framework of first- and second-order semiclassical theory. Herein, we generalize the semiclassical theory for Bloch electrons under the uniform electric field up to the third-order using wavepacket method and base…
We derive semiclassical ground state solutions that correspond to the quantum Hall states earlier found in the Maxwell-Chern-Simons matrix theory. They realize the Jain composite-fermion construction and their density is piecewise constant as that of phenomenological wave functions. These results support the matrix theory as a possible effective theory of the fractional Hall effect. A crucial role is played by the constraint limiting the degeneracy of matrix states: we find its explicit gauge invariant form and clarify its physical interpretation.
Semiclassical chiral fermions manifest the anomalous spin-Hall effect: when put into a pure electric field they suffer a side jump, analogous to what happens to their massive counterparts in non-commutative mechanics. The transverse shift is consistent with the conservation of the angular momentum. In a pure magnetic field instead, spiraling motion is found. Motion in Hall-type perpendicular electric and magnetic fields is also studied.
We propose a gauge invariant expression for the side jump associated with scattering between particular Bloch states. Our expression for the side jump follows from the Born series expansion for the scattering T-matrix in powers of the strength of the scattering potential. Given our gauge invariant side jump expression, it is possible to construct a semiclassical Boltzmann theory of the anomalous Hall effect which expresses all previously identified contributions in terms of gauge invariant quantities and does not refer explicitly to off-diagonal terms in the density-matrix response.
We make a semiclassical analysis of thermal pair creations of quasiparticles at various filling factors in quantum Hall systems. It is argued that the gap energy is reduced considerably by the Coulomb potential made by impurities. It is also shown that a tunneling process becomes important at low temperature and at strong magnetic field. We fit typical experimental data excellently based on our semiclassical results of the gap energy.
Thermal Hall conductivity from semiclassical spin dynamics simulations: implementation and applications to chiral ferromagnets and Kitaev magnets
Technical University of Munich(慕尼黑工业大学);Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST)(慕尼黑量子科学与技术中心);University of Münster(明斯特大学);Imperial College London(帝国理工学院)
Magneto-transport measurements are performed on two-dimensional GaAs electron systems to probe the quantum Hall (QH) effect at low magnetic fields. Oscillations following the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) formula are observed in the transition from the insulator to QH liquid when the observed almost temperature-independent Hall slope indicates insignificant interaction correction. Our study shows that the existence of SdH oscillations in such a transition can be understood based on the non-interacting model.
The semiclassical transport theory is especially powerful for investigating galvanomagnetic effects. Generally, the semiclassical theory is applicable only in weak fields because it does not consider Landau quantization. Herein, we extend the conventional semiclassical theory by considering Landau quantization through the field dependence of carrier density in semimetals. The extended semiclassical theory is applicable even in strong fields, where Landau quantization is noticeable. Using this new approach, we explain the qualitative change in the angular dependence of transverse magnetoresista…
In frame of general stastical mechanics approach applied to 2D metal bar we demonstrate the interrelationship between Landau diamagnetism, de Haas-van Alphen magnetization oscillations and the Integer Quantum Hall effect.
The quantum magnetotransport properties of a monolayer of molybdenum disulfide are derived using linear response theory. Especially, the effect of topological terms on longitudinal and Hall conductivity is analyzed. The Hall conductivity exhibits fractional steps in the integer quantum Hall regime. Further complete spin and valley polarization of the longitudinal conductivity is seen in presence of these topological terms. Finally, the Shubnikov-de Hass oscillations are suppressed or enhanced contingent on the sign of these topological terms.
Recent experiments in the integer quantum Hall regime seem to find direct transitions from a quantum Hall state with Hall conductance $σ_{xy} = n e^2/h $ with integer $n > 1$, to an insulating state in weak magnetic fields. We study this issue using a variation of the tight-binding lattice model for non-interacting electrons. Although quantum Hall transitions with change in Hall conductance $n e^2/ h$ with $n > 1$ do exist in our model for special tuning of parameters, they generically split into quantum Hall transitions with the Hall conductance changing by $e^2 / h$ at each transition. This …
We theoretically study the quantum Hall effect (QHE) in graphene with an ac electric field. Based on the tight-binding model, the structure of the half-integer Hall plateaus at $σ_{xy} = \pm(n + 1/2)4e^2/h$ ($n$ is an integer) gets qualitatively changed with the addition of new integer Hall plateaus at $σ_{xy} = \pm n(4e^2/h)$ starting from the edges of the band center regime towards the band center with an increasing ac field. Beyond a critical field strength, a Hall plateau with $σ_{xy} = 0$ can be realized at the band center, hence restoring fully a conventional integer QHE with particle-ho…
We show analytically and numerically that omission of quantum interference from the Chalker-Coddington model of the integer quantum Hall effect gives a localization length exponent nu=4/3 as in ordinary two-dimensional percolation. Thus, contrary to semi-classical scaling arguments, tunneling alone does not lead to nu=7/3.
Surface electron currents are studied for the integer quantum Hall effect in three dimensions(3D) proposed previously by Kohmoto et al. and by Koshino et al. We predict the current wraps the facets of the sample with its intensity and direction dictated by 3D Chern numbers which are just the quantized Hall conductivities in 3D ($σ_{xy}, σ_{zx}$), so a natural connection exists between the surface and bulk currents just as in 2D. An experiment to detect the 3D integer quantum Hall effect through the wrapping current is proposed.
A square lattice model which exhibits a nonzero quantized Hall conductance in a zero net magnetic field at certain values of the parameters is presented. The quantization is due to the existence of a topological winding number that characterizes the quantum Hall phases and is expected to survive the effects of weak disorder.
The mapping between the metal-insulator transition of the quantum Hall system and a superfluid-to-insulator transition is revisited based on a disordered anyon model. The one-parameter scaling of the superfluid-to-insulator transition is employed for the analysis of the scaling behavior of the integer quantum Hall transitions. The analysis reveals the direct transition from a quantum Hall plateau to the insulator in weak disorder limit, and a float-down transition for strong disorders. In either cases, the transition corresponds to a non-chirality superfluid-to-insulator transition, with the l…
We have studied the integer quantum Hall effect at finite temperatures by diagonalizing a single body tight binding model Hamiltonian including Aharonov-Bohm phase. We have studied the energy dependence of the specific heat and the Hall conductivity at a given temperature. The specific heat shows a sharp peak between two consecutive Hall plateaus. At very low temperatures, the numerical results of the temperature variations of specific heat (in the plateau region) are in good agreement with the analytical results.
The integer quantum Hall effect is a topological state of quantum matter in two dimensions, and has recently been observed in three-dimensional topological insulator thin films. Here we study the Landau levels and edge states of surface Dirac fermions in topological insulators under strong magnetic field. We examine the formation of the quantum plateaux of the Hall conductance and find two different patterns, in one pattern the filling number covers all integers while only odd integers in the other. We focus on the quantum plateau closest to zero energy and demonstrate the breakdown of the qua…
We provide a semiclassical description of the electronic transport through graphene n-p junctions in the quantum Hall regime. A semiclassical approximation for the conductance is derived in terms of the various snake-like trajectories at the interface of the junction. For a symmetric (ambipolar) configuration, the general result can be recovered by means of a simple scattering approach, providing a very transparent qualitative description of the problem under study. Consequences of our findings for the understanding of recent experiments are discussed.
Recent developments in the scaling theory of the integer quantum Hall effect are discussed. In particular, the influence of electron-electron interactions on the critical behavior are studied. It is further argued that recent experiments on the disappearance of the quantum Hall effect at low magnetic fields support rather than disprove the scaling theory, when interpreted properly.
We report in this paper results of experimental and theoretical studies of transitions between different integer quantum Hall phases, as well as transition between the insulating phase and quantum Hall phases at high magnetic fields. We focus mainly on universal properties of the transitions. We demonstrate that properly defined conductivity tensor is universal at the transitions. We also present numerical results of a non-interacting electron model, which suggest that the Thouless conductance is universal at integer quantum Hall transitions, just like the conductivity tensor. Finite temperatu…
Topological aspects represent currently a boosting area in condensed matter physics. Yet there are very few suggestions for technical applications of topological phenomena. Still, the most important is the calibration of resistance standards by means of the integer quantum Hall effect. We propose modifications of samples displaying the integer quantum Hall effect which render the tunability of the Fermi velocity possible by external control parameters such as gate voltages. In this way, so far unexplored possibilities arise to realize devices such as tunable delay lines and interferometers.
We compute the entanglement entropy, in real space, of the ground state of the integer Quantum Hall states for three different domains embedded in the torus, the disk and the sphere. We establish the validity of the area law with a vanishing value of the topological entanglement entropy. The entropy per unit length of the perimeter depends on the filling fraction, but it is independent of the geometry.
Optical Hall conductivity $σ_{xy}(ω)$ is measured from the Faraday rotation for a GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction quantum Hall system in the terahertz frequency regime. The Faraday rotation angle ($\sim$ fine structure constant $\sim$ mrad) is found to significantly deviate from the Drude-like behavior to exhibit a plateau-like structure around the Landau-level filling $ν=2$. The result, which fits with the behavior expected from the carrier localization effect in the ac regime, indicates that the plateau structure, although not quantized, still exists in the terahertz regime.
We discuss the charge distributions across the bulk of a two-dimensional electron gas system which is on an integer or fractional quantum Hall plateau. Our analysis is based on a relation, derived from the long wavelength limit of the bulk density-density response function, between the induced charge and leading derivatives of a slowly varying Hall potential. We use the Wiener-Hopf method to solve the coupled response and Poisson equations. Unlike the integer case, treated in previous work, the induced charge in the fractional case can alternate in sign.
The interplay between the confinement potential and electron-electron interactions causes reconstructions of Quantum Hall edges. We study the consequences of this edge reconstruction for the relaxation of hot electrons injected into integer quantum Hall edge states. In translationally invariant edges, the relaxation of hot electrons is governed by three-body collisions which are sensitive to the electron dispersion and thus to reconstruction effects. We show that the relaxation rates are significantly altered in different reconstruction scenarios.
We review some elementary aspects of the critical properties of the series of metal-insulator transitions that constitute the integer quantum Hall effect. Numerical work has proven essential in charting out this phenomenon. Without being complete, we review network models that seem to capture the essentials of this critical phenomenon.
Transverse current due to Berry curvature in phase space is formulated based on the Boltzmann equations with the semiclassical equations of motion for an electron wave packet. It is shown that the Hall effect due to the phase space Berry curvature is absent because the contributions from "anomalous velocity" and "effective Lorentz force" are completely cancelled out.
We study the emergent role of many-body effects on a two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) within the Thomas-Fermi-Poisson approximation, including both the exchange and correlation interactions in the presence of a strong perpendicular magnetic field. It is shown that, the indirect interactions widen the odd-integer incompressible strips spatially, whereas the even-integer filling factors almost remain unaffected.
Hole-conjugate states of the fractional quantum Hall effect host counter-propagating edge channels which are thought to exchange charge and energy. These exchanges have been the subject of extensive theoretical and experimental works; in particular, it is yet unclear if the presence of integer quantum Hall edge channels stemming from fully filled Landau levels affects heat equilibration along the edge. In this letter, we present heat transport measurements in quantum Hall states of graphene demonstrating that the integer channels can strongly equilibrate with the fractional ones, leading to ma…
We report magnetotransport measurements on a single-layer graphene in pulsed magnetic fields up to $B$ = 53 T. With either electron- or hole-type charge carriers, the Hall resistance $R_{H}$ is quantized into $R_{H}$ = $(h/e^2)ν^{-1}$ with $ν$ = $\pm$2, $\pm$6, and $\pm$10, which demonstrates the observation of half-integer quantum Hall effect (QHE). At $B$ = 50 T, the half-integer QHE is even observed at room temperature in spite of a conventional carrier mobility $μ$ = 4000 cm$^2$/Vs.
We have studied the conductivity peak in the transition region between the two lowest integer Quantum Hall states using transmission measurements of edge magnetoplasmons. The width of the transition region is found to increase linearly with frequency but remains finite when extrapolated to zero frequency and temperature. Contrary to prevalent theoretical pictures, our data does not show the scaling characteristics of critical phenomena.These results suggest that a different mechanism governs the transition in our experiment.
In samples used to maintain the US resistance standard the breakdown of the dissipationless integer quantum Hall effect occurs as a series of dissipative voltage steps. A mechanism for this type of breakdown is proposed, based on the generation of magneto-excitons when the quantum Hall fluid flows past an ionised impurity above a critical velocity. The calculated generation rate gives a voltage step height in good agreement with measurements on both electron and hole gases. We also compare this model to a hydrodynamic description of breakdown.
We consider the network model of the integer quantum Hall effect transition. By generalizing the real--space renormalization group procedure for the classical percolation to the case of quantum percolation, we derive a closed renormalization group (RG) equation for the universal distribution of conductance of the quantum Hall sample at the transition. We find an approximate solution of the RG equation and use it to calculate the critical exponent of the localization length and the central moments of the conductance distribution. The results obtained are compared with the results of recent nume…
We study the extra term of particle current in a 2D k-cubic Rashba spin-orbit coupling system and the integer quantization of the Hall conductance in this system. We provide a correct formula of charge current in this system and the careful consideration of extra currents provides a stronger theoretical basis for the theory of the quantum Hall effect which has not been considered before. The non-trivial extra contribution to the particle current density and local conductivity, which originates from the cubic dependence on the momentum operator in the Hamiltonian, will have no effect on the int…
The unconventional (half-integer) quantum Hall effect for a single species of Dirac fermions is analyzed. We discuss possible experimental measurements of the half-integer Hall conductance $g_{xy}$ of topological insulator surface states and explain how to reconcile Laughlin's flux insertion argument with half-integer $g_{xy}$. Using a vortex state representation of Landau Level wavefunctions, we calculate current density beyond linear response, which is in particular relevant to the topological image monopole effect. As a major result, the field theory describing the localization physics of t…
In this work we report experiments on defined by shallow etching narrow Hall bars. The magneto-transport properties of intermediate mobility two-dimensional electron systems are investigated and analyzed within the screening theory of the integer quantized Hall effect. We observe a non-monotonic increase of Hall resistance at the low magnetic field ends of the quantized plateaus, known as the overshoot effect. Unexpectedly, for Hall bars that are defined by shallow chemical etching the overshoot effect becomes more pronounced at elevated temperatures. We observe the overshoot effect at odd and…
We study the quantum anomalous Hall effect in a strip of stripes model coupled to a magnetic texture with zero total magnetization and in the presence of strong electron-electron interactions. A helical magnetization along the stripes and a spin-selective coupling between the stripes gives rise to a bulk gap and chiral edge modes. Depending on the ratio between the period of the magnetic structure and the Fermi wavelength, the system can exhibit the integer or fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect. In the fractional regime, the quasiparticles have fractional charges and non-trivial Abelian …
The status of the ac quantum Hall effect is reviewed with emphasis on the theoretical development in recent years. In particular, the numerical approaches for the calculation of the frequency dependent Hall and longitudinal conductivities of non-interacting electrons are considered in detail. Results for the frequency scaling at the critical point and for the frequency dependent deviation of the Hall conductivity from the quantised plateau value are presented.
We obtain an analytical expression for the Hall conductivity in AAA-stacked trilayer graphene (TLG) within the linear response Kubo formalism. Interestingly, we find that the quantization of the Hall conductivity is severely dependent on the value of the chemical potential and the magnetic field. The origin of this unusual quantization, attributed to the Landau level spectrum of AAA-stacked TLG, is explained in detail. We show that is a characteristic of the multilayer graphene structures with AA stacking order.
The longitudinal resistivity at transitions between integer quantum Hall states in two-dimensional electrons confined to AlAs quantum wells is found to depend on the spin orientation of the partially-filled Landau level in which the Fermi energy resides. The resistivity can be enhanced by an order of magnitude as the spin orientation of this energy level is aligned with the majority spin. We discuss possible causes and suggest a new explanation for spike-like features observed at the edges of quantum Hall minima near Landau level crossings.
A low energy action for double-layer quantum Hall systems at filling fractions $ν= 2/m$ ($m$ an odd integer) is introduced. Interlayer antiferromagnetic exchange induces a phase with canted spin order, and also a spin-singlet phase. Universal properties of zero and finite temperature transitions are obtained. We compute the critical temperature at which the canted order vanishes in a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. Implications for recent light scattering experiments at $ν= 2$ are noted.
This review presents experimental results on the inter-edge-state transport in the quantum Hall effect, mostly obtained in the regime of high imbalance. The application of a special geometry makes it possible to perform I-V spectroscopy between individual edge channels in both the integer and the fractional regime. This makes it possible to study in detail a number of physical effects such as the creation of topological defects in the integer quantum Hall effect and neutral collective modes excitation in fractional regime. The while many of the experimental findings are well explained within e…
It is shown that the statements about the observation of the transitions between the insulating phase and the integer quantum Hall effect phases with the quantized Hall conductivity $σ_{xy}^{q}$ $\geq 3e^{2}/h$ made in a number of works are unjustified. In these works, the crossing points of the magnetic field dependences of the diagonal resistivity at different temperatures at $ω_{c}τ\approx 1$ have been misidentified as the critical points of the phase transitions. In fact, these crossing points are due to the sign change of the derivative $dρ_{xx}/dT$ owing to the quantum corrections to the…
We investigate the phenomenon of integer quantum Hall effect in a square lattice, subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field, through Landauer-Büttiker formalism within the tight-binding framework. The oscillating nature of longitudinal resistance and near complete suppression of momentum relaxation processes are examined by studying the flow of charge current using Landauer-Keldysh prescription. Our analysis for the lattice model corroborates the finding obtained in the continuum model and provides a simple physical understanding.
We present a drop model for integer and fractional quantum Hall effects (FQHE). We show that the two-dimensional electron gas breaks up into regions with filling factors ν = 1 and ν = 0 in disk geometry, and the formation of drops with a finite number of electrons is possible. Sequences of filling fractions are constructed on the basis of experimental data. For all sequences there are initial FQHE states, which correspond to a drop with five electrons. The remaining FQHE states are composite states of a drop with five electrons and one or more pairs of electrons.
A device is proposed that is similar in spirit to the electron turnstile except that it operates within a quantum Hall fluid. In the integer quantum Hall regime, this device pumps an integer number of electrons per cycle. In the fractional regime, it pumps an integer number of fractionally charged quasiparticles per cycle. It is proposed that such a device can make an accurate measurement of the charge of the quantum Hall effect quasiparticles.
The quantum Hall effect is one of the most important developments in condensed matter physics of the 20th century. The standard explanations of the famous integer quantized Hall plateaus in the transverse resistivity are qualitative, and involve assumptions about disorder, localized states, extended states, edge states, Fermi levels pinned by Landau levels, etc. These standard narratives give plausible reasons for the existence of the plateaus, but provide little in the way of even a qualitative understanding of the shape and width of the Hall plateaus, much less a first principles calculation…