The microwave photoresistance of a two-dimensional topological insulator in a HgTe quantum well with an inverted spectrum has been experimentally studied under irradiation at frequencies of 110-169 GHz. Two mechanisms of formation of this photoresistance have been revealed. The first mechanism is due to transitions between the dispersion branches of edge current states, whereas the second mechanism is caused by the action of radiation on the bulk of the quantum well.
We measure microwave frequency (4-40 GHz) photoresistance at low magnetic field B, in high mobility 2D electron gas samples, excited by signals applied to a transmission line fabricated on the sample surface. Oscillatory photoresistance vs B is observed. For excitation at the cyclotron resonance frequency, we find an unprecedented, giant relative photoresistance (ΔR)/R of up to 250 percent. The photoresistance is apparently proportional to the square root of applied power, and disappears as the temperature is increased.
The microwave (MW) photoresistance has been measured on a high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas patterned with a shallow triangular antidot lattice, where both the MW-induced resistance oscillations (MIRO) and magnetoplasmon (MP) resonance are observed superposing on sharp commensurate geometrical resonance (GR). Analysis shows that the MIRO, MP, and GR are decoupled from each other in these experiments.
We observe oscillatory magnetoresistance in double quantum wells under microwave irradiation. The results are explained in terms of the influence of subband coupling on the frequency-dependent photoinduced part of the electron distribution function. As a consequence, the magnetoresistance demonstrates the interference of magneto-intersubband oscillations and conventional microwave- induced resistance oscillations.
Theories of microwave-induced resistance oscillations in high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas predict that with decreasing oscillation order $n$ or with increasing frequency $ω$ the photoresistance maxima should appear closer to the cyclotron resonance harmonics due to increased Landau level separation. In this experimental study we demonstrate that while for a given $ω$ the peaks do move towards the harmonics with decreasing $n$, there is no corresponding movement with increasing $ω$ for a given $n$. These findings show that the positions of the photoresistance maxima cannot be directly…
We report on temperature-dependent magnetoresistance measurements in balanced double quantum wells exposed to microwave irradiation for various frequencies. We have found that the resistance oscillations are described by the microwave-induced modification of electron distribution function limited by inelastic scattering (inelastic mechanism), up to a temperature of T*~4 K. With increasing temperature, a strong deviation of the oscillation amplitudes from the behavior predicted by this mechanism is observed, presumably indicating a crossover to another mechanism of microwave photoresistance, wi…
We report on experimental and theoretical studies of microwave-induced resistance oscillations in a two-dimensional electron gas over a wide range of microwave intensities. We observe a distinct crossover from linear to sublinear power dependence of the oscillation amplitude and a concomitant narrowing of the oscillation extrema. To explain our observations we propose a theory based on the quantum kinetic equation at arbitrary microwave power. Taken together, these findings demonstrate a crucial role of multiphoton processes at elevated microwave intensities.
We present phenomenological analysis of the period and the phase of oscillatory microwave photoresistance (OMP) and zero-resistance states (ZRS) recently observed in 2D electron systems. The results demonstrate that as OMP evolves into ZRS with increasing magnetic field, the absolute value of the phase becomes progressively smaller, decreasing roughly as 1/B. Virtually eliminating a phase-shift and resulting in different periodicities for the maxima and minima, such specific dependence is supported by a simple model based on oscillatory density of states. Finally, it follows that fine structur…
We report on the temperature dependence of microwave-induced resistance oscillations in high-mobility two-dimensional electron systems. We find that the oscillation amplitude decays exponentially with increasing temperature, as $\exp(-αT^2)$, where $α$ scales with the inverse magnetic field. This observation indicates that the temperature dependence originates primarily from the modification of the single particle lifetime, which we attribute to electron-electron interaction effects.
We study microwave photoresistivity oscillations in a high mobility two-dimensional electron system subject to strong dc electric fields. We find that near the second subharmonic of the cyclotron resonance the frequency of the resistivity oscillations with dc electric field is twice the frequency of the oscillations at the cyclotron resonance, its harmonics, or in the absence of microwave radiation. This observation is discussed in terms of the microwave-induced sidebands in the density of states and the interplay between different scattering processes in the separated Landau level regime.
We simultaneously measure photoresistance with electrical transport and plasmon-cyclotron resonance (PCR) using microwave reflection spectroscopy in high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells under a perpendicular magnetic field. Multi-photon transitions are revealed as sharp peaks in the resistance and the cyclotron reflection on samples with various carrier densities. Our main finding is that plasmon coupling is relevant in the cyclotron reflection spectrum but has not been observed in the electrical conductivity signal. We discuss possible mechanisms relevant to reflection or dc conductivity s…
The frequency dependence of the peak-valley pairs occurring in the magnetoresistivity of a two-dimensional electron system under enhanced microwave irradiation, which are considered to associate with multiphoton processes, is examined in the sub-cyclotron-frequency range, based on a theoretical treatment with photon-assisted electron transitions due to impurity scattering. It is shown that with equivalent radiation power (producing the same height of the main oscillation peak), much more and stronger multi-photon structures show up at lower frequency, and when frequency increases all these str…
The temperature dependence of microwave-induced resistance oscillations (MIRO), according to the theory, originates from electron-electron scattering. This scattering affects both the quantum lifetime, or the density of states, and the inelastic lifetime, which governs the relaxation of the nonequilibrium distribution function. Here, we report on MIRO in an ultrahigh mobility ($μ> 3 \times 10^7$ cm$^2$/Vs) 2D electron gas at $T$ between $0.3$ K and $1.8$ K. In contrast to theoretical predictions, the quantum lifetime is found to be $T$-independent in the whole temperature range studied. At the…
We explore experimentally bichromatic (frequencies $ω_1$ and $ω_2$) photoresistance of a two-dimensional electron system in the regimes of microwave-induced resistance oscillations and zero-resistance states. We find bichromatic resistance to be well described by a superposition of $ω_1$ and $ω_2$ components, provided that both monochromatic resistances are positive. This relation holds even when the oscillation amplitudes are small and one could expect additive contributions from monochromatic photoresistances. In contrast, whenever a zero-resistance state is formed by one of the frequencies,…
We have studied microwave photoresistance in a two-dimensional electron system subject to two radiation fields (frequencies $ω_1$ and $ω_2$) using quantum kinetic equation. We have found that when $ω_2/ω_1= 1 + 2/N$, where $N$ is an integer, and both waves have the same polarization, the displacement mechanism gives rise to a new, phase-sensitive photoresistance. This photoresistance oscillates with the magnetic field and can be a good fraction of the total photoresistance under typical experimental conditions. The inelastic mechanism, on the other hand, gives zero phase-sensitive photoresista…
We present a method to quantify the spin Hall angle (SHA) with spin pumping and microwave photoresistance measurements. With this method, we separate the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) from other unwanted effects for permalloy/Pt bilayers using out-of-plane microwave excitation. Through microwave photoresistance measurements, the in- and out-of-plane precessing angles of the magnetization are determined and enabled for the exact determination of the injected pure spin current. This method is demonstrated with an almost perfect Lorentz line-shape for the obtained ISHE signal and the frequency …
We report on the observation of magneto-oscillations of terahertz radiation induced photocurrent in HgTe/HgCdTe quantum wells (QWs) of different widths, which are characterized by a Dirac-like, inverted and normal parabolic band structure. The photocurrent data are accompanied by measurements of photoresistance (photoconductivity), radiation transmission, as well as magneto-transport. We develop a microscopic model of a cyclotron-resonance assisted photogalvanic effect, which describes main experimental findings. We demonstrate that the quantum oscillations of the photocurrent are caused by th…
We extend our studies of microwave photoresistance of ultra-high mobility two-dimensional electron system (2DES) into the high-intensity, non-linear regime employing both monochromatic and bichromatic radiation. Under high-intensity monochromatic radiation $ω$ we observe new zero-resistance states (ZRS) which correspond to rational values of $ε=ω/ω_C$ ($ω_C$ is the cyclotron frequency) and can be associated with multiphoton processes. %Formation of these rational ZRS is accompanied by a dramatic reconstruction of the photoresistance spectrum which reveals diminishing, narrowing, and phase redu…
We have performed microwave photoresistance measurements in high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells and investigated the value of the effective mass. Surprisingly, the effective mass, obtained from the period of microwave-induced resistance oscillations, is found to be about 12% lower than the band mass in GaAs, $\mb$. This finding provides strong evidence for electron-electron interactions which can be probed by microwave photoresistance in very high Landau levels. In contrast, the measured magnetoplasmon dispersion revealed an effective mass which is close to $\mb$, in accord with previous s…
We report on magnetotransport measurements in a high-mobility two-dimentional electron system subject simultaneously to AC (microwave) and DC (Hall) fields. We find that DC excitation affects microwave photoresistance in a nontrivial way. Photoresistance maxima (minima) evolve into minima (maxima) and back, reflecting strong coupling and interplay of AC- and DC-induced effects. Most of our observations can be explained in terms of indirect electron transitions using a new, ``combined'' resonant condition. Observed quenching of microwave-induced zero resistance by a DC field cannot be unambiguo…
We discuss possible origins of recently discovered microwave induced photoresistance oscillations in very-high-electron-mobility two-dimensional electron systems. We show that electrodynamic effects -- the radiative decay, plasma oscillations, and retardation effects, -- are important under the experimental conditions, and that their inclusion in the theory is essential for understanding the discussed and related microwave induced magnetotransport phenomena.
Microwave-induced resistance oscillations (MIRO) have been extensively studied for more than a decade but, until now, have remained unique to GaAs/AlGaAs-based 2D electron systems. Here, we report on the first observation of MIRO in a 2D hole gas hosted in Ge/SiGe quantum well. Our findings confirm that MIRO is a universal phenomenon and demonstrate that microwave photoresistance can be utilized to probe the energy spectrum and the correlation effects of 2D holes in Ge/SiGe quantum wells.
The rise of topological phases of matter is strongly connected to their potential to host Majorana bound states, a powerful ingredient in the search for a robust, topologically protected, quantum information processing. In order to produce such states, a method of choice is to induce superconductivity in topological insulators. The engineering of the interplay between superconductivity and the electronic properties of a topological insulator is a challenging task and it is consequently very important to understand the physics of simple superconducting devices such as Josephson junctions, in wh…
In this study we used selectively-doped GaAs/AlAs heterostructure to fabricate a high-mobility two-subband electronic system with substantially different concentration of electrons in subbands. We observe microwave photoresistance at high numbers of magneto-intersubband oscillations (MISO). The system under study demonstrates microwave-induced resistance oscillations (MIRO) and MISO interference. MIRO in the studied two-subband system appear in lower magnetic fields comparing to MISO. This is an indication of some unknown mechanism that exists in the two-subband system and is responsible for M…
We report on a detailed study of the terahertz (THz) photoresistivity in a strained HgTe three-dimensional topological insulator (3D TI) for all Fermi level positions: inside the conduction and valence bands, and in the bulk gap. In the presence of a magnetic field we detect a resonance corresponding to the cyclotron resonance (CR) in the top surface Dirac fermions (DF) and examine the nontrivial dependence of the surface state cyclotron mass on the Fermi level position. We also detect additional resonant features at moderate electron densities and demonstrate that they are caused by the mixin…
Topological effects in edge states are clearly visible on short lengths only, thus largely impeding their studies. On larger distances, one may be able to dynamically enhance topological signatures by exploiting the high mobility of edge states with respect to bulk carriers. Our work on microwave spectroscopy highlights the responses of the edges which host very mobile carriers, while bulk carriers are drastically slowed down in the gap. Though the edges are denser than expected, we establish that charge relaxation occurs on short timescales, and suggests that edge states can be addressed sele…
We have studied the bichromatic photoresistance states of a two dimensional electron gas in the regime of microwave induced resistance oscillations. Zudov and coworkers found clear experimental evidence of zero-resistance states by measuring the bichromatic resistance in a bidimensional gas of electrons. They found that the bichromatic resistance closely replicates the superposition of the two monochromatic components provided that both contributions are positive. However, the superposition principle is no longer valid if one of the two contributions give rice to a zero-resistance state. The e…
We report on magnetotransport measurements in a two-dimensional (2D) electron gas subject to subterahertz radiation in the regime where Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations (SdHO) and microwave-induced resistance oscillations (MIRO) coexist over a wide magnetic field range, spanning several harmonics of the cyclotron resonance. Surprisingly, we find that the SdHO amplitude is modified by the radiation in a non-trivial way owing to the oscillatory correction which has the same period and phase as MIRO. This finding challenges our current understanding of microwave photoresistance in 2D electron gas, …
The realization of quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect in HgTe quantum wells (QWs) is considered a milestone in the discovery of topological insulators. The QSH edge states are predicted to allow current to flow at the edges of an insulating bulk, as demonstrated in various experiments. A key prediction of QSH theory that remains to be experimentally verified is the breakdown of the edge conduction under broken time reversal symmetry (TRS). Here we first establish a rigorous framework for understanding the magnetic field dependence of electrostatically gated QSH devices. We then report unexpected e…
We report on a magnetotransport study in a high-mobility 2D hole gas hosted in a pure Ge/SiGe quantum well subject to dc electric fields and high frequency microwave radiation. We find that under applied dc bias the differential resistivity exhibits a pronounced maximum at a magnetic field which increases linearly with the applied current. We associate this maximum with the fundamental peak of Hall field-induced resistance oscillations (HIRO) which are known to occur in 2D electron gases in GaAs/AlGaAs systems. After taking into account the Dingle factor correction, we find that the position o…
Recently discovered new structures and zero-resistance states outside the well-known oscillations are demonstrated to arise from multiphoton assisted processes, by a detailed analysis of microwave photoresistance in two-dimensional electron systems under enhanced radiation. The concomitant resistance dropping and peak narrowing observed in the experiments are also reproduced. We show that the radiation-induced suppression of average resistance comes from virtual photon effect and exists throughout the whole magnetic field range.
Low-temperature illumination of a two-dimensional electron gas in GaAs quantum wells is known to greatly improve the quality of high-field magnetotransport. The improvement is known to occur even when the carrier density and mobility remain unchanged, but what exactly causes it remains unclear. Here, we investigate the effect of illumination on microwave photoresistance in low magnetic fields. We find that the amplitude of microwave-induced resistance oscillations grows dramatically after illumination. Dingle analysis reveals that this growth reflects a substantial increase in the single-parti…
Effects of microwave radiation on magnetoresistance are analyzed in a balance-equation scheme that covers regimes of inter- and intra-Landau level processes and takes account of photon-asissted electron transitions as well as radiation-induced change of the electron distribution for high mobility two-dimensional systems. Short-range scatterings due to background impurities and defects are shown to be the dominant direct contributors to the photoresistance oscillations. The electron temperature characterizing the system heating due to irradiation, is derived by balancing the energy absorption f…
Viscous fluid in an ultrahigh-mobility two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells is systematically studied through measurements of negative magnetoresistance (NMR) and photoresistance under microwave radiation, and the data are analyzed according to recent theoretical work by e.g., Alekseev, Physical Review Letters 117,166601 (2016). Size-dependent and temperature dependent NMR are found to conform to the theoretical predictions. In particular, transport of 2DEG with relatively weak Coulomb interaction (interparticle interaction parameter r_s<1) manifests a crossover bet…
Magnetoresistance of two-dimensional electron systems with several occupied subbands oscillates owing to periodic modulation of the probability of intersubband transitions by the quantizing magnetic field. In addition to previous investigations of these magneto-intersubband (MIS) oscillations in two-subband systems, we report on both experimental and theoretical studies of such a phenomenon in three-subband systems realized in triple quantum wells. We show that the presence of more than two subbands leads to a qualitatively different MIS oscillation picture, described as a superposition of sev…
The 2D HgTe quantum well is analyzed based on the assumption that the width fluctuations convert the system to a random mixture of domains with positive and negative energy gaps. The borders between ordinary and topological insulator phases form a network of the edge states covering the overall sample. The optical transitions within the edge states yield the 2D absorption. The qualitative consideration is based on the model of optical intraedge transitions in curved edge states together with the percolation arguments.
We report on the observation of terahertz radiation induced photoconductivity and of terahertz analog of the microwave-induced resistance oscillations (MIRO) in HgTe-based quantum well (QW) structures of different width. The MIRO-like effect has been detected in QWs of 20 nm thickness with inverted band structure and a rather low mobility of about 3 $\times$ 10$^5$ cm$^2$/V s. In a number of other structures with QW widths ranging from 5 to 20 nm and lower mobility we observed an unconventional non-oscillatory photoconductivity signal which changes its sign upon magnetic field increase. This e…
