Broken-symmetry ground states for the two-dimensional electron gas in a double-quantum-well system

Chern-Simons Modified RPA-Eliashberg Theory of the ν=1/2+1/2 Quantum Hall Bilayer

The ν=1/2+1/2 quantum Hall bilayer has been previsously modeled using Chern-Simons-RPA-Eliashberg (CSRPAE) theory to describe pairing between the two layers. However, these approaches are troubled by a number of divergences and ambiguities. By using a "modified" RPA approximation to account for mass renormalization, we can work in a limit where the cyclotron frequency is taken to infinity, effectively projecting to a single Landau level. This, surprisingly, controls the important divergences and removes ambiguities found in prior attempts at CSRPAE. Examining BCS pairing of composite fermions we find that the angular momentum channel l=+1 dominates for all distances d between layers and at all frequency scales. Examining BCS pairing of composite fermion electrons in one layer with composite fermion holes in the opposite layer, we find the l=0 pairing channel dominates for all d and all frequencies. The strength of the pairing in these two different descriptions of the same phase of matter is found to be almost identical. This agrees well with our understanding that these are two different but dual descriptions of the same phase of matter.

s-Wave Paired Electron and Hole Composite Fermion Trial State for Quantum Hall Bilayers with ν=1

We introduce a new variational wave function for a quantum Hall bilayer at total filling ν_{T}=1, which is based on s-wave BCS pairing between electron composite fermions in one layer and hole composite fermions in the other. In addition, we reexamine a trial wave function based on p-wave BCS pairing between electron composite fermions in both layers. We compute the overlap of the optimized trial functions with the ground state from exact diagonalization calculations of up to 14 electrons in a spherical geometry, and we find excellent agreement over the entire range of values of the ratio between the layer separation and the magnetic length. The s-wave trial wave function naturally allows for charge imbalance between the layers and provides important insights into how the physics at large interlayer separations crosses over to that at small separations in a fashion analogous to the BEC-BCS crossover.

Precursors to Exciton Condensation in Quantum Hall Bilayers

Tunneling spectroscopy reveals evidence for interlayer electron-hole correlations in quantum Hall bilayer two-dimensional electron systems at layer separations near, but above, the transition to the incompressible exciton condensate at total Landau level filling ν_{T}=1. These correlations are manifested by a nonlinear suppression of the Coulomb pseudogap which inhibits low energy interlayer tunneling in weakly coupled bilayers. The pseudogap suppression is strongest at ν_{T}=1 and grows rapidly as the critical layer separation for exciton condensation is approached from above.

Numerical Study of Quantum Hall Bilayers at Total Filling ν_{T}=1: A New Phase at Intermediate Layer Distances

We study the phase diagram of quantum Hall bilayer systems with total filing ν_{T}=1/2+1/2 of the lowest Landau level as a function of layer distances d. Based on numerical exact diagonalization calculations, we obtain three distinct phases, including an exciton superfluid phase with spontaneous interlayer coherence at small d, a composite Fermi liquid at large d, and an intermediate phase for 1.1<d/l_{B}<1.8 (l_{B} is the magnetic length). The transition from the exciton superfluid to the intermediate phase is identified by (i) a dramatic change in the Berry curvature of the ground state under twisted boundary conditions on the two layers and (ii) an energy level crossing of the first excited state. The transition from the intermediate phase to the composite Fermi liquid is identified by the vanishing of the exciton superfluid stiffness. Furthermore, from our finite-size study, the energy cost of transferring one electron between the layers shows an even-odd effect and possibly extrapolates to a finite value in the thermodynamic limit, indicating the enhanced intralayer correlation. Our identification of an intermediate phase and its distinctive features shed new light on the theoretical understanding of the quantum Hall bilayer system at total filling ν_{T}=1.

Confinement-deconfinement transition due to spontaneous symmetry breaking in quantum Hall bilayers

Band-inverted electron-hole bilayers support quantum spin Hall insulator and exciton condensate phases. Interest in quantum spin Hall effect in these systems has recently put them in the spotlight. We investigate such a bilayer in an external magnetic field. We show that the interlayer correlations lead to formation of a helical quantum Hall exciton condensate state. Existence of the counterpropagating edge modes in this system results in formation of a ground state spin-texture not supporting gapless single-particle excitations. The charged edge excitations in a sufficiently narrow Hall bar are confined: a charge on one of the edges always gives rise to an opposite charge on the other edge. Magnetic field and gate voltages allow the control of a confinement-deconfinement transition of charged edge excitations, which can be probed with nonlocal conductance. Confinement-deconfinement transitions are of great interest, not least because of their possible significance in shedding light on the confinement problem of quarks.

Electronic systems with inverted band structures can support exotic topological insulator and exciton condensate states. Here, the authors demonstrate the formation of a helical exciton condensate in quantum Hall bilayers, and a quark-like quasiparticle confinement-deconfinement transition.

Anomalous exciton condensation in graphene bilayers

In ordinary semiconductor bilayers, exciton condensates appear at total Landau-level filling factor nu{T}=1. We predict that similar states will occur in Bernal stacked graphene bilayers at many nonzero integer filling factors. For nu{T}=-3, 1 we find that the superfluid density of the exciton condensate vanishes and that a finite-temperature fluctuation-induced first order isotropic-smectic phase transition occurs when the layer densities are not balanced. These anomalous properties of bilayer graphene exciton condensates are due to the degeneracy of Landau levels with n=0 and n=1 orbital character.

Theory of activated transport in bilayer quantum Hall systems

We analyze the transport properties of bilayer quantum Hall systems at total filling factor nu=1 in drag geometries as a function of interlayer bias, in the limit where the disorder is sufficiently strong to unbind meron-antimeron pairs, the charged topological defects of the system. We compute the typical energy barrier for these objects to cross incompressible regions within the disordered system using a Hartree-Fock approach, and show how this leads to multiple activation energies when the system is biased. We then demonstrate using a bosonic Chern-Simons theory that in drag geometries current in a single layer directly leads to forces on only two of the four types of merons, inducing dissipation only in the drive layer. Dissipation in the drag layer results from interactions among the merons, resulting in very different temperature dependences for the drag and drive layers, in qualitative agreement with experiment.

Theory of the pseudospin resonance in semiconductor bilayers

The pseudospin degree of freedom in a semiconductor bilayer gives rise to a collective mode analogous to the ferromagnetic-resonance mode of a ferromagnet. We present a many-body theory of the dependence of the energy and the damping of this mode on layer separation d. Based on these results, we discuss the possibilities of realizing transport-current driven pseudospin-transfer oscillators in semiconductors, and of using the pseudospin-transfer effect as an experimental probe of intersubband plasmons.

Quantum phase transitions in bilayer quantum hall systems at a total filling factor nuT=1

We construct a quantum Ginsburg-Landau theory to study the quantum phase transition from the excitonic superfluid to a possible pseudospin density wave (PSDW) at some intermediate distances driven by the magnetoroton minimum collapsing at a finite wave vector. We explicitly show that the PSDW takes a square lattice structure. We suggest the existence of zero-point quantum fluctuation generated vacancies in the PSDW and that correlated hopping of vacancies in the active and passive layers in the PSDW state leads to very large and temperature dependent drag consistent with the experimental data. Comparisons with previous numerical calculations are made. Further experimental implications are given.

Fractional charges and quantum phase transitions in imbalanced bilayer quantum Hall systems

We extend the composite boson theory to study slightly imbalanced bilayer quantum Hall systems. In the global U(1) symmetry breaking excitonic superfluid side, as the imbalance increases, the system supports continuously changing fractional charges. In the translational symmetry breaking pseudospin density wave (PSDW) side, there are two quantum phase transitions from the commensurate PSDW to an incommensurate PSDW and then to the excitonic superfluid state. We compare our theory with experimental data and also the previous microscopic calculations.

Strong enhancement of drag and dissipation at the weak- to strong-coupling phase transition in a bilayer system at a total Landau level filling nu = 1

We consider a bilayer electronic system at a total Landau level filling factor nu = 1, and focus on the transition from the regime of weak interlayer coupling to that of the strongly coupled (1,1,1) phase (or "quantum Hall ferromagnet"). Making the assumption that in the transition region the system is made of puddles of the (1,1,1) phase embedded in a bulk of the weakly coupled state, we show that the transition is accompanied by a strong increase in longitudinal Coulomb drag that reaches a maximum of approximately h/2e(2). In that regime the longitudinal drag increases with decreasing temperature.

Strong correlation to weak correlation phase transition in bilayer quantum Hall systems

At small layer separations, the ground state of a nu = 1 bilayer quantum Hall system exhibits spontaneous interlayer phase coherence. The evolution of this state with increasing layer separation d has been a matter of controversy. We report on small system exact diagonalization calculations which suggest that a single-phase transition, likely of first order, separates incompressible states with strong interlayer correlations from compressible states with weak interlayer correlations. We find a dependence of the phase boundary on d and interlayer tunneling amplitude that is in very good agreement with recent experiments.