Incommensurate Ground State of Double-Layer Quantum Hall Systems

Authors

Charles B. Hanna, Boise State UniversityFollow
A. H. MacDonald, University of Texas at Dallas
S. M. Girvin, Indiana University - Bloomington

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-7-2001

Abstract

Double-layer quantum Hall systems possess interlayer phase coherence at sufficiently small layer separations, even without interlayer tunneling. When interlayer tunneling is present, application of a sufficiently strong in-plane magnetic field B_‖>B_c drives a commensurate-incommensurate (CI) transition to an incommensurate soliton-lattice (SL) state. We calculate the Hartree-Fock ground-state energy of the SL state for all values of B_‖ within a gradient approximation, and use it to obtain the anisotropic SL stiffness, the Kosterlitz-Thouless melting temperature for the SL, and the SL magnetization. The in-plane differential magnetic susceptibility diverges as |B_‖-B_c|^-1 when the CI transition is approached from the SL state.

Publication Information

Hanna, Charles B.; MacDonald, A. H.; and Girvin, S. M.. (2001). "Incommensurate Ground State of Double-Layer Quantum Hall Systems". Physical Review B, 63(12), 125305-1 - 125305-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.63.125305