Low-temperature electron magnetotransport in single GaAs quantum wells with two populated subbands is studied at large filling factors. Magneto-inter-subband (MIS) and acoustic-phonon induced oscillations of the dissipative resistance are found to be coexisting but interfering substantially with each other. The experiments show that amplitude of the MIS-oscillations enhances significantly by phonons, indicating "constructive interference" between the phonon scattering and the intersubband electron transitions. Temperature damping of the quantum oscillations is found to be related to broadening of Landau levels caused by considerable electron-electron scattering.
The low-temperature($4.2<T<12.5$ K) magnetotransport ($B<2$ T) of two-dimensional electrons occupying two subbands (with energy $E_1$ and $E_2$) is investigated in GaAs single quantum well with AlAs/GaAs superlattice barriers. Two series of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations are found to be accompanied by magnetointersubband (MIS) oscillations, periodic in the inverse magnetic field. The period of the MIS oscillations obeys condition $Δ_{12}=(E_2-E_1)=k \cdot \hbar ω_c$, where $Δ_{12}$ is the subband energy separation, $ω_c$ is the cyclotron frequency, and $k$ is the positive integer. At $T$=4.2 K…
Experimental studies of magnetoresistance in high-mobility wide quantum wells reveal oscillations which appear with an increase in temperature to 10 K and whose period is close to that of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations. The observed phenomenon is identified as magnetointersubband oscillations caused by the scattering of electrons between two occupied subbands and the third subband which becomes occupied as a result of thermal activation. These small-period oscillations are less sensitive to thermal suppression than the largeperiod magnetointersubband oscillations caused by the scattering betwe…
We present a phase diagram for a two-dimensional electron system with two populated subbands. Using a gated GaAs/AlGaAs single quantum well, we have mapped out the phases of various quantum Hall states in the density-magnetic filed plane. The experimental phase diagram shows a very different topology from the conventional Landau fan diagram. We find regions of negative differential Hall resistance which are interpreted as preliminary evidence of the long sought reentrant quantum Hall transitions. We discuss the origins of the anomalous topology and the negative differential Hall resistance in …
We study non-linear transport phenomena in a high-mobility bilayer system with two closely spaced populated electronic subbands in a perpendicular magnetic field. For a moderate direct current excitation, we observe zero-differential-resistance states with a characteristic 1/B periodicity. We investigate, both experimentally and theoretically, the Hall field-induced resistance oscillations which modulate the high-frequency magneto-intersubband oscillations in our system if we increase the current. We also observe and describe the influence of direct current on the magnetoresistance in the pres…
Quantum oscillations of nonlinear resistance are investigated in response to electric current and magnetic field applied perpendicular to single GaAs quantum wells with two populated subbands. At small magnetic fields current-induced oscillations appear as Landau-Zener transitions between Landau levels inside the lowest subband. Period of these oscillations is proportional to the magnetic field. At high magnetic fields different kind of quantum oscillations emerges with a period,which is independent of the magnetic field. At a fixed current the oscillations are periodic in inverse magnetic fie…
We theoretically investigate a quasi-one-dimensional quantum wire, where the lowest two subbands are populated, in the presence of a helical magnetic field. We uncover a backscattering mechanism involving the helical magnetic field and Coulomb interaction between the electrons. The combination of these ingredients results in scattering resonances and partial gaps which give rise to non-standard plateaus and conductance dips at certain electron densities. The positions and values of these dips are independent of material parameters, serving as direct transport signatures of this mechanism. Our …
Density-functional calculations using an exact exchange potential for a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) formed in a GaAs single quantum well predict the existence of a spin-polarized phase, when an excited subband becomes slightly populated. Direct experimental evidence is obtained from low temperature and low excitation-power photoluminescence (PL) spectra which display the sudden appearance of a sharp emission peak below the energy of the optical transition from the first excited electron subband upon its occupation. The behavior of this PL feature in magnetic fields applied in-plane as …
We investigate the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit (SO) couplings in GaAs quantum wells in the range of well widths $w$ allowing for a transition of the electron occupancy from one to two subbands. By performing a detailed Poisson-Schrödinger self-consistent calculation, we determine all the intra- and inter-subband Rashba ($α_1$, $α_2$, $η$) and Dresselhaus ($β_1$, $β_2$, $Γ$) coupling strengths. For relatively narrow wells with only one subband occupied, our results are consistent with the data of Koralek \emph{et al.} [Nature \bfs{48}, 610 (2009)], i.e., the Rashba coupling $α_1$ is essen…
The electronic properties of Fe-doped Al0.31Ga0.69N/GaN heterostructures have been studied by Shubnikov-de Haas measurement. Two subbands of the two-dimensional electron gas in the hetero-interface were populated. After the low temperature illumination, the electron density increases from 11.99 x 1012 cm-2 to 13.40 x 1012 cm-2 for the first subband and from 0.66 x 1012 cm-2 to 0.94 x 1012 cm-2 for the second subband. The persistent photoconductivity effect (~13% increase) is mostly attributed to the Fe-related deep-donor level in GaN layer. The second subband starts to populate when the first …
Magneto-intersubband resistance oscillations (MISO) of highly mobile 2D electrons in symmetric GaAs quantum wells with two populated subbands are studied in magnetic fields tilted from the normal to the 2D electron layer at different temperatures $T$. Decrease of MISO amplitude with temperature increase is observed. At moderate tilts the temperature decrease of MISO amplitude is consistent with decrease of Dingle factor due to reduction of quantum electron lifetime at high temperatures. At large tilts new regime of strong MISO suppression with the temperature is observed. Proposed model relate…
An experimental analysis for two parallel conducting layers determines the full resistivity tensor of the parallel layer, at magnetic fields where the other layer is in the quantum Hall regime. In heterostructures which exhibit parallel conduction in the modulation-doped layer, this analysis quantitatively determines the charge density in the doping layer and can be used to estimate the mobility. To illustrate one application, experimental data show magnetic freeze-out of parallel conduction in a modulation doped heterojunction. As another example, the carrier density of a minimally populated …
We analytically demonstrate helicity determined selection rules for intershell tunneling in double-walled nanotubes with commensurate (c-DWNTs) and incommensurate (i-DWNTs) shells. For i-DWNTs the coupling is negligible between lowest energy subbands, but it becomes important as the higher subbands become populated. In turn the elastic mean free path of i-DWNTs is reduced for increasing energy, with additional suppression at subband onsets. At low energies, a Luttinger liquid theory for DWNTs with metallic shells is derived. Interaction effects are more pronounced in i-DWNTs.
Quantum point contacts (QPC) are fundamental building blocks of nanoelectronic circuits. For their emission dynamics as well as for interaction effects such as the 0.7-anomaly the details of the electrostatic potential are important, but the precise potential shapes are usually unknown. Here, we measure the one-dimensional subband spacings of various QPCs as a function of their conductance and compare our findings with models of lateral parabolic versus hard wall confinement. We find that a gate-defined QPC near pinch-off is compatible with the parabolic saddle point scenario. However, as the …
We report effective hole mass ($m^{*}$) measurements through analyzing the temperature dependence of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in dilute (density $p \sim 7 \times 10^{10}$ cm$^{-2}$, $r_{s} \sim 6$) two-dimensional (2D) hole systems confined to a 20 nm-wide, (311)A GaAs quantum well. The holes in this system occupy two nearly-degenerate spin subbands whose $m^{*}$ we measure to be $\sim $ 0.2 (in units of the free electron mass). Despite the relatively large $r_{s}$ in our 2D system, the measured $m^{*}$ is in good agreement with the results of our energy band calculations which do not ta…
The magnetotransport of highly mobile 2D electrons in wide GaAs single quantum wells with three populated subbands placed in titled magnetic fields is studied. The bottoms of the lower two subbands have nearly the same energy while the bottom of the third subband has a much higher energy ($E_1\approx E_2<<E_3$). At zero in-plane magnetic fields magneto-intersubband oscillations (MISO) between the $i^{th}$ and $j^{th}$ subbands are observed and obey the relation $Δ_{ij}=E_j-E_i=k\cdot\hbarω_c$, where $ω_c$ is the cyclotron frequency and $k$ is an integer. An application of in-plane magnetic fie…
We have studied quantum-well-confined holes based on the Luttinger-model description for the valence band of typical semiconductor materials. Even when only the lowest quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) subband is populated, the static spin susceptibility turns out to be very different from the universal isotropic Lindhard-function lineshape obtained for 2D conduction-electron systems. The strongly anisotropic and peculiarly density-dependent spin-related response of 2D holes at long wavelengths should make it possible to switch between easy-axis and easy-plane magnetization in dilute magnetic q…
Magneto-luminescence studies in electron bilayers reveal the hallmarks of the even-denominator and other quantum Hall states in the intensities and energies of the inter-band optical recombination lines. In the presence of a small tunneling gap between the layers the magneto-optical emission from the lowest anti-symmetric subband, not populated in a single-electron picture, displays maxima at filling factors 1 and 2/3. These findings uncover a loss of pseudospin polarization, where the pseudospin describes the layer index degree of freedom, that is linked to an anomalous population of the anti…
Recent claims of an experimental demonstration of spontaneous spin polarisation in dilute electron gases \cite{young99} revived long standing theoretical discussions \cite{ceper99,bloch}. In two dimensions, the stabilisation of a ferromagnetic fluid might be hindered by the occurrence of the metal-insulator transition at low densities \cite{abra79}. To circumvent localisation in the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) we investigated the low populated second electron subband, where the disorder potential is mainly screened by the high density of the first subband. This letter reports on the br…
We experimentally demonstrate ultralong spin lifetimes of electrons in the one-dimensional (1D) quantum limit of semiconductor nanowires. Optically probing single wires of different diameters reveals an increase in the spin relaxation time by orders of magnitude as the electrons become increasingly confined until only a single 1D subband is populated. We find the observed spin lifetimes of more than $200\,\textrm{ns}$ to result from the robustness of 1D electrons against major spin relaxation mechanisms, highlighting the promising potential of these wires for long-range transport of coherent s…
Cross-correlated measurements of thermal noise are performed to determine the electron temperature in nanopatterned channels of a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure at 4.2 K. Two-dimensional (2D) electron reservoirs are connected via an extended one-dimensional (1D) electron waveguide network. Hot electrons are produced using a current $I_{\text{h}}$ in a source 2D reservoir, are transmitted through the ballistic 1D waveguide and relax in a drain 2D reservoir. We find that the electron temperature increase $ΔT_{\text{e}}$ in the drain is proportional to the square of the heating current $I_{\text{h}}…
Effective electron mobilities are obtained by transport measurements on InAs nanowire field-effect transistors at temperatures ranging from 10-200 K. The mobility increases with temperature below ~ 30 - 50 K, and then decreases with temperature above 50 K, consistent with other reports. The magnitude and temperature dependence of the observed mobility can be explained by Coulomb scattering from ionized surface states at typical densities. The behaviour above 50 K is ascribed to the thermally activated increase in the number of scatterers, although nanoscale confinement also plays a role as hig…
