scholarly journals Onset of anisotropic transport of two-dimensional electrons in high Landau levels: Possible isotropic-to-nematic liquid-crystal phase transition

2002 ◽  
Vol 65 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
K. B. Cooper ◽  
M. P. Lilly ◽  
J. P. Eisenstein ◽  
L. N. Pfeiffer ◽  
K. W. West
Keyword(s):  
Phase Transition ◽  
Liquid Crystal ◽  
Nematic Liquid Crystal ◽  
Landau Levels ◽  
Crystal Phase ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Liquid Crystal Phase ◽  
Crystal Phase Transition ◽  
Anisotropic Transport ◽  
Liquid Crystal Phase Transition

Evidence for a liquid crystal phase transition in two-dimensional electrons in high Landau levels

2002 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 377-380
Author(s):  
K. B. Cooper ◽  
M. P. Lilly ◽  
J. P. Eisenstein ◽  
L. N. Pfeiffer ◽  
K. W. West
Keyword(s):  
Phase Transition ◽  
Liquid Crystal ◽  
Landau Levels ◽  
Crystal Phase ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Liquid Crystal Phase ◽  
Stripe Phase ◽  
Stripe Order ◽  
Crystal Phase Transition ◽  
Liquid Crystal Phase Transition

Transport measurements of high-mohility two-dimensional electron systems at low temperatures have revealed a large resistance anisotropy around half-filling of excited Landau levels. These results have been attributed to electronic stripe-phase formation with spontaneously broken orientational symmetry. Mechanisms which are known to break the orientational symmetry include poorly-understood crystal structure effects and an in-plane magnetic field, $B_{||}$. Here we report that a large $B_{||}$ also causes the transport anisotropy to persist up to much higher temperatures. In this regime, we find that the anisotropic resistance scales sublinearly with $B_{||}/T$. These observations support the proposal that the transition from anisotropic to isotropic transport reflects a liquid crystal phase transition where local stripe order persists even in the isotropic regime.

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