The Hall Effect

Outline
Discovery and History of Hall Effect
Edwin Hall, 1879
Anomalous Hall Effect in 1950s
Quantum Hall Effect 1980
Overview/Review of Basic Hall Effect
Carrier types
Open vs. closed orbits
Quantum Hall Effect Overview
Current Applications of Hall Effect in Research

Discovery: Edwin Hall
Discovered in 1879
Observed small voltage perpendicular to
current in a material within a magnetic
field.
The Lorentz force presses its charge
carriers against one side of the conductor
creating a voltage
The ratio of the voltage created to the
amount of induced current is known as
the Hall resistance
Allows one to find the sign of the charge
carriers
V
H

IB
ned
The Hall Voltage:
This can be obtained
from the derivations to in
the next slides
Basic Overview/Review

E
x
J
x
R
H

E
y
j
x
H
F e E+ v
H
c
( )
dp
dt
e E+
p
m
e
c
H

Magnetoresistance



Hall coefficient relation


Force on each electron



From Ashcroft + Mermin
eq 1.12

Basic Overview/Review
Cyclotron Frequency of
Electron


With this relation we get two
coupled equations.



That simplify to this



Hall Field Ey has no
transverse current so jy=0

Hall Coefficient is simplified
to this

eH
m
e
c
0 eE
x

c
p
y

p
x

0 eE
y
+
c
p
x

p
y

E
x

c
j
y
+ j
x
E
x

c
j
x
+ j
y
E
y

j
x

H
nec

j
x
R
H

1
nec
Anomalous Hall Effect
Anomalous Hall Effects 1
st
Explanation
Anomalous Hall Effect Controversy
Klaus von Klitzing
made the
unexpected
discovery in 1980
that the Hall
conductivity was
exactly quantized
Quantum Hall Effect: History
Originally predicted by Ando, Matsumoto, and
Uemura in 1975
Resistivity/Conductivity in Hall devices, under low
temperatures and high magnetic fields, becomes
quantized
Quantum Hall Effect: Conditions
Need electrons confined in plane but free to move
within it
Originally observed in heterojunction
Observed in FET
Recently observed in graphene
Temperature of a few Kelvin
Graphene at room temperature
Magnetic field on order of Tesla
Graph from Novoselov et al. showing QHE
in graphene at room temperature. Blue is

xx
. Red is
xy
.
Quantum Hall Effect: Landau Levels
Quantized energy levels of electron orbits in a
material with a magnetic field
Solving Hamiltonian with magnetic field in Landau
gauge yields:

Expression for energy state is quantized, directly
proportional to B
Gives rise to De Haas-van Alphen and Shubnikov-de
Haas effects peaks at distinct
In material with impurities, small differences in
energy between states of same Landau level






E
n
(
1
2
+ n)
c

qB
mc
Quantum Hall Effect: Qualitative Explanation
Effect seen by changing magnetic field
and holding V
H
or J

constant
As B increases, increased degeneracy
of states
Two kinds of Landau levels
Localized: do not carry current
Extended: carry current
If Fermi level is in localized Landau
energy state, constant J, constant
xy
If Fermi level is in extended Landau
state, decrease in J, increase in
xy

Quantum Hall Effect: Streda Derivation


d

l
C

E
1
c

t
j
xy
E

xy
dl
C
j
1
c

t
dQ
dt

xy
c

t

xy
c
dQ
d
N
e
hc
Q nq e N
e
2

hc

xy

e
2
h
Lenzs Law
Number of electron
states in Landau level

xy

h
e
2
Fractional Quantum Hall Effect
Discovered 1982
Peaks seen at fractional values with odd
denominators
Due to electron electron interactions and impurities
in system
Hall Resistance vs.
Magnetic field graph for
heterojunction
displaying fractional
QHE. From Eisenstein
and Stormer.
Applications
Metrology
Obtaining an exact quantum of resistance
Sensors
Detecting field changes
Effective use in:
Cars
Keyboards
Calculating Flux Density
Metrology
Obtaining a quantum of resistance has allowed for a
definition of a new standard of electrical resistance.
This quantum is known as the von Klitzing constant.
Can effectively calibrate resistance measurements.
Can find a precise determination of the fine
structure constant used in QED.

R
k

h
e
2
@ 25813W
von Klitzing constant
Sensors
Simplest form: analog transducer
Returns a voltage
Can be used as a timing device for motors and
discrete position state detectors.
A Hall sensor can
be used in timing
operations for
tachometers and
similar applications.
It can also be used
to detect the
position of a
magnetic object in
a system.