The Quantum Hall Effect

Markus Buttiker University of Geneva

International School "Quantum Metrology and Fundamental constants, 'Ecole de Physique des Houches" (France) from October 1st to October 12th, 2007.

Generalized longitudinal and Hall resistances

2DEG pattterened into a multirpobe conductor Four-probe resistance

Generalized longitudinal resistance

Generalized Hall resistance

Quantum Hall effect

For all (generalized ) Hall and longitudinal resistances!!

Edge states: smooth potential

equipotential line velocity Transition from N=3 to N= 2 edge states

Integer quantum Hall Effect

Von Klitzing, et al, PRL 1980

GaAs/AlGaAs T = 0.3 K BJ&BJ, 1992

Electron Focusing

skipping orbit

van Houten et al. , Phys. Rev. B39, 8556 (1989)

electron focusing

Skipping orbits
2DEG

(semi-classical) quantization

immune to disorder

Edge states
Halperin, Phys. Rev. B25, 2185 (1982)

bulk; Landau levels

edge states

Hall Cross

In the two geometrically very different conductors, edge states connect the contacts in the same way: in the absence of of backscattering the two conductors are equivalent.

Same R_H and same R_L

Transmission and conductance

Buttiker, PRL 57, 1761 (1986); IBM J. Res. Developm. 32, 317 (1988)

Four-probe resistances
Buttiker, PRL 57, 1761 (1986); IBM J. Res. Developm. 32, 317 (1988)

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G has eigenvalue zero!

Current contacts Voltage probes

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Strengths of transmission approach

Includes contacts Treats all contacts on equal footing

Treats longitudinal and Hall conductance on equal footing

All conductances (whether longitudianl or Hall )depend on states at the Fermi energy only

Quantum Hall effect

Buttiker, Phys. Rev. B38, 9375 (1988)

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Quantized longitudinal resistances

Buttiker, Phys. Rev. B38, 9375 (1988) N edge states in the bulk, K edge states reflected

QHE: Non-ideal contacts

Left: Transition from 2DEG to metallic contact Right: Transmission through a quantum point contact

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With ideal contacts between contacts with reflection the Hall resistances remain quantized and the longitudinal resistances remain zero! However..

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QHE: Non-ideal contacts

Non-ideal contacts generate a non-equilibrium population of edge states Ideal contacts populate all edge states equally; they relax a non-equilibrium population: this process is inelastic

Conductor with non-ideal contacts separated by ideal contacts which generate inelastic relaxation

Hall resistances are quantized Longitudinal resistances zero

Inelastic relaxation (equilibration among edge channels) helps quantization! Quantum Hall effect does not require global phase coherence!!

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Selective Injection and Detection

B. Van Wees et al, PRL 62, 1181 (1989); H. van Houten et al., PRB 39, 8556 (89) Selective population and detection of non-equilibium populations Contact 1: Injector Contact 2: Detector

Contact 1 reflects K edge states Contact 2 reflects L edge states

Injection into outermost edge state only, successive opening o detector contact B. W. Alphenaar, et al. PRL (1990)

Experimental proof of existence of edge states

Selective generation of currents in edge states and their selective detection is the best proof we have for the relevance of the edge states. Obviously in a bulk picture (no boundary effects) such experiments would seem impossible to explain.

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However misunderstandings and misconceptions and simply lack of Information still lead often to objections.

Gauge and Topology

Laughlin, PRB 23, 5632 (1981)

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Niu and Thouless, PRB 35, 2188 (1987)

Response to Aharonov-Bohm flux Requires global phase coherence

Current distribution at equilibrium

U

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Smooth potential

Equilibrium current density pattern (diamagnetic current) Equilibrium electrostatic potential The equilibrium current through any cross-section of the conductor vanishes

Current distribution in the presence of transport

T. Christen and M.B. PRB 53, 2064 (1996)
U
L

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- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cg
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Density of states

Linear transport regime Electrochemical capacitance Current at the edge Edge to bulk ratio Current in the bulk

Potential must be calculated from Poisson equation

S. Komiyama and H. Hirai, Phys. Rev. B 54, 2067 (1996)

Current distribution: Summary

..the study of the local current distribution dos not prove or disprove Edge channel formulation

C. W. J. Beenakker and H. van Houten, in Solid State Physics: Advances in Research and Applications, edited by H. Ehrenreich and D. Turnbull (Academic, San Diego, 1991). Vol. 44, p. 177

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Physical properties of the QHE

Large voltages

Hot spots, cyclotron rad. emission Temperature Intermediate 1K < T < 10K

s = -0.01 and -0.51 after Ref. 88 Tsui ..but also experiments with positive s See Shklovskii, universal prefactor, PRL 74, 150-3 Low, kT < 1 VRH exponent alpha = Field dependent hopping model Polyakov and Shklovskii, Phys. Rev. B48, 11167 (1993)

Summary
Transmission, conductance and resistance Treats longitudinal and Hall resistances on an equivalent footing Quantum Hall effect: electron motion along edge states, absence of backscattering Contacts, non-equilibrium injection and detection of edge states Edge states an experimental reality Current distribution