Thequantum Hall effect(orinteger quantum Hall effect) is aquantizedversion of theHall effectwhich is observed intwo-dimensional electron systemssubjected to lowtemperaturesand strongmagnetic fields,in which the HallresistanceRxyexhibits steps that take on the quantized values
whereVHallis theHall voltage,Ichannelis the channelcurrent,eis theelementary chargeandhis thePlanck constant.The divisorνcan take on either integer (ν= 1, 2, 3,...) or fractional (ν=1/3,2/5,3/7,2/3,3/5,1/5,2/9,3/13,5/2,12/5,...) values. Here,νis roughly but not exactly equal to the filling factor ofLandau levels.The quantum Hall effect is referred to as the integer or fractional quantum Hall effect depending on whetherνis an integer or fraction, respectively.
The striking feature of the integer quantum Hall effect is the persistence of the quantization (i.e. the Hall plateau) as the electron density is varied. Since the electron density remains constant when theFermi levelis in a clean spectral gap, this situation corresponds to one where the Fermi level is an energy with a finite density of states, though these states are localized (seeAnderson localization).[1]
Thefractional quantum Hall effectis more complicated and still considered an open research problem.[2]Its existence relies fundamentally on electron–electron interactions. In 1988, it was proposed that there was a quantum Hall effect withoutLandau levels.[3]This quantum Hall effect is referred to as the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect. There is also a new concept of thequantum spin Hall effectwhich is an analogue of the quantum Hall effect, where spin currents flow instead of charge currents.[4]
Applications
editElectrical resistance standards
editThe quantization of the Hall conductance () has the important property of being exceedingly precise.[5]Actual measurements of the Hall conductance have been found to be integer or fractional multiples ofe2/hto better than one part in a billion.[6]It has allowed for the definition of a new practicalstandardforelectrical resistance,based on the resistance quantum given by thevon Klitzing constantRK.This is named afterKlaus von Klitzing,the discoverer of exact quantization. The quantum Hall effect also provides an extremely precise independent determination of thefine-structure constant,a quantity of fundamental importance inquantum electrodynamics.
In 1990, a fixedconventional valueRK-90=25812.807 Ωwas defined for use in resistance calibrations worldwide.[7]On 16 November 2018, the 26th meeting of the General Conference on Weights and Measures decided to fix exact values ofh(the Planck constant) ande(the elementary charge),[8]superseding the 1990 conventional value with an exact permanent value (intrinsic standard)RK=h/e2=25812.80745... Ω.[9]
Research status
editThe fractional quantum Hall effect is considered part ofexact quantization.[10]Exact quantization in full generality is not completely understood but it has been explained as a very subtle manifestation of the combination of the principle ofgauge invariancetogether with another symmetry (seeAnomalies). The integer quantum Hall effect instead is considered a solved research problem[11][12]and understood in the scope ofTKNN formulaandChern–Simons Lagrangians.
Thefractional quantum Hall effectis still considered an open research problem.[2]The fractional quantum Hall effect can be also understood as an integer quantum Hall effect, although not of electrons but of charge–flux composites known ascomposite fermions.[13]Other models to explain the fractional quantum Hall effect also exists.[14] Currently it is considered an open research problem because no single, confirmed and agreed list of fractional quantum numbers exists, neither a single agreed model to explain all of them, although there are such claims in the scope ofcomposite fermionsand Non AbelianChern–Simons Lagrangians.
History
editIn 1957,Carl Froschand Lincoln Derick were able to manufacture the first silicon dioxide field effect transistors at Bell Labs, the first transistors in which drain and source were adjacent at the surface.[15]Subsequently, a team demonstrated a workingMOSFETat Bell Labs 1960.[16][17]This enabled physicists to studyelectron behavior in a nearly ideal two-dimensional gas.[18]
In a MOSFET, conduction electrons travel in a thin surface layer, and a "gate"voltage controls the number of charge carriers in this layer. This allows researchers to explorequantum effectsby operating high-purity MOSFETs atliquid heliumtemperatures.[18]
The integerquantizationof the Hall conductance was originally predicted byUniversity of Tokyoresearchers Tsuneya Ando, Yukio Matsumoto and Yasutada Uemura in 1975, on the basis of an approximate calculation which they themselves did not believe to be true.[19]In 1978, theGakushuin Universityresearchers Jun-ichi Wakabayashi and Shinji Kawaji subsequently observed the effect in experiments carried out on the inversion layer of MOSFETs.[20]
In 1980,Klaus von Klitzing,working at the high magnetic field laboratory in Grenoble withsilicon-based MOSFET samples developed byMichael Pepperand Gerhard Dorda, made the unexpected discovery that the Hall resistance wasexactlyquantized.[21][18]For this finding, von Klitzing was awarded the 1985Nobel Prize in Physics.A link between exact quantization and gauge invariance was subsequently proposed byRobert Laughlin,who connected the quantized conductivity to the quantized charge transport in a Thouless charge pump.[12][22]Most integer quantum Hall experiments are now performed ongallium arsenideheterostructures,although many other semiconductor materials can be used. In 2007, the integer quantum Hall effect was reported ingrapheneat temperatures as high as room temperature,[23]and in themagnesiumzincoxideZnO–MgxZn1−xO.[24]
Integer quantum Hall effect
editLandau levels
editIn two dimensions, when classical electrons are subjected to a magnetic field they follow circular cyclotron orbits. When the system is treated quantum mechanically, these orbits are quantized. To determine the values of the energy levels the Schrödinger equation must be solved.
Since the system is subjected to a magnetic field, it has to be introduced as an electromagnetic vector potential in theSchrödinger equation.The system considered is an electron gas that is free to move in the x and y directions, but is tightly confined in the z direction. Then, a magnetic field is applied in the z direction and according to theLandau gaugethe electromagnetic vector potential isand the scalar potential is.Thus the Schrödinger equation for a particle of chargeand effective massin this system is:
whereis the canonical momentum, which is replaced by the operatorandis the total energy.
To solve this equation it is possible to separate it into two equations since the magnetic field just affects the movement along x and y axes. The total energy becomes then, the sum of two contributions.The corresponding equations in z axis is:
To simplify things, the solutionis considered as an infinite well. Thus the solutions for the z direction are the energies,and the wavefunctions are sinusoidal. For theanddirections, the solution of the Schrödinger equation can be chosen to be the product of a plane wave in-direction with some unknown function of,i.e.,.This is because the vector potential does not depend onand the momentum operatortherefore commutes with the Hamiltonian. By substituting this Ansatz into the Schrödinger equation one gets the one-dimensionalharmonic oscillatorequation centered at.
whereis defined as the cyclotron frequency andthe magnetic length. The energies are:
- ,
And the wavefunctions for the motion in theplane are given by the product of a plane wave inandHermite polynomialsattenuated by the gaussian function in,which are the wavefunctions of a harmonic oscillator.
From the expression for the Landau levels one notices that the energy depends only on,not on.States with the samebut differentare degenerate.
Density of states
editAt zero field, the density of states per unit surface for the two-dimensional electron gas taking into account degeneration due to spin is independent of the energy
- .
As the field is turned on, the density of states collapses from the constant to aDirac comb,a series of Diracfunctions, corresponding to the Landau levels separated.At finite temperature, however, the Landau levels acquire a widthbeingthe time between scattering events. Commonly it is assumed that the precise shape of Landau levels is aGaussianorLorentzianprofile.
Another feature is that the wave functions form parallel strips in the-direction spaced equally along the-axis, along the lines of.Since there is nothing special about any direction in the-plane if the vector potential was differently chosen one should find circular symmetry.
Given a sample of dimensionsand applying the periodic boundary conditions in the-directionbeingan integer, one gets that each parabolic potential is placed at a value.
The number of states for each Landau Level andcan be calculated from the ratio between the total magnetic flux that passes through the sample and the magnetic flux corresponding to a state.
Thus the density of states per unit surface is
- .
Note the dependency of the density of states with the magnetic field. The larger the magnetic field is, the more states are in each Landau level. As a consequence, there is more confinement in the system since fewer energy levels are occupied.
Rewriting the last expression asit is clear that each Landau level contains as many states as in a2DEGin a.
Given the fact that electrons arefermions,for each state available in the Landau levels it corresponds to two electrons, one electron with each value for thespin.However, if a large magnetic field is applied, the energies split into two levels due to the magnetic moment associated with the alignment of the spin with the magnetic field. The difference in the energies isbeinga factor which depends on the material (for free electrons) andtheBohr magneton.The signis taken when the spin is parallel to the field andwhen it is antiparallel. This fact called spin splitting implies that thedensity of statesfor each level is reduced by a half. Note thatis proportional to the magnetic field so, the larger the magnetic field is, the more relevant is the split.
In order to get the number of occupied Landau levels, one defines the so-called filling factoras the ratio between the density of states in a 2DEG and the density of states in the Landau levels.
In general the filling factoris not an integer. It happens to be an integer when there is an exact number of filled Landau levels. Instead, it becomes a non-integer when the top level is not fully occupied. In actual experiments, one varies the magnetic field and fixes electron density (and not the Fermi energy!) or varies the electron density and fixes the magnetic field. Both cases correspond to a continuous variation of the filling factorand one cannot expectto be an integer. Since,by increasing the magnetic field, the Landau levels move up in energy and the number of states in each level grow, so fewer electrons occupy the top level until it becomes empty. If the magnetic field keeps increasing, eventually, all electrons will be in the lowest Landau level () and this is called the magnetic quantum limit.
Longitudinal resistivity
editIt is possible to relate the filling factor to the resistivity and hence, to the conductivity of the system. Whenis an integer, theFermi energylies in between Landau levels where there are no states available for carriers, so the conductivity becomes zero (it is considered that the magnetic field is big enough so that there is no overlap between Landau levels, otherwise there would be few electrons and the conductivity would be approximately). Consequently, the resistivity becomes zero too (At very high magnetic fields it is proven that longitudinal conductivity and resistivity are proportional).[25]
With the conductivityone finds
If the longitudinal resistivity is zero and transversal is finite, then.Thus both the longitudinal conductivity and resistivity become zero.
Instead, whenis a half-integer, the Fermi energy is located at the peak of the density distribution of some Landau Level. This means that the conductivity will have a maximum.
This distribution of minimums and maximums corresponds to ¨quantum oscillations¨ calledShubnikov–de Haas oscillationswhich become more relevant as the magnetic field increases. Obviously, the height of the peaks are larger as the magnetic field increases since the density of states increases with the field, so there are more carriers which contribute to the resistivity. It is interesting to notice that if the magnetic field is very small, the longitudinal resistivity is a constant which means that the classical result is reached.
Transverse resistivity
editFrom the classical relation of the transverse resistivityand substitutingone finds out the quantization of the transverse resistivity and conductivity:
One concludes then, that the transverse resistivity is a multiple of the inverse of the so-called conductance quantumif the filling factor is an integer. In experiments, however, plateaus are observed for whole plateaus of filling values,which indicates that there are in fact electron states between the Landau levels. These states are localized in, for example, impurities of the material where they are trapped in orbits so they can not contribute to the conductivity. That is why the resistivity remains constant in between Landau levels. Again if the magnetic field decreases, one gets the classical result in which the resistivity is proportional to the magnetic field.
Photonic quantum Hall effect
editThe quantum Hall effect, in addition to being observed intwo-dimensional electron systems,can be observed in photons.Photonsdo not possess inherentelectric charge,but through the manipulation of discreteoptical resonatorsand coupling phases or on-site phases, an artificialmagnetic fieldcan be created.[26][27][28][29][30]This process can be expressed through a metaphor of photons bouncing between multiple mirrors. By shooting the light across multiple mirrors, the photons are routed and gain additional phase proportional to theirangular momentum.This creates an effect like they are in amagnetic field.
Topological classification
editThe integers that appear in the Hall effect are examples oftopological quantum numbers.They are known in mathematics as the firstChern numbersand are closely related toBerry's phase.A striking model of much interest in this context is the Azbel–Harper–Hofstadter model whose quantum phase diagram is theHofstadter butterflyshown in the figure. The vertical axis is the strength of themagnetic fieldand the horizontal axis is thechemical potential,which fixes the electron density. The colors represent the integer Hall conductances. Warm colors represent positive integers and cold colors negative integers. Note, however, that the density of states in these regions of quantized Hall conductance is zero; hence, they cannot produce the plateaus observed in the experiments. The phase diagram is fractal and has structure on all scales. In the figure there is an obviousself-similarity.In the presence of disorder, which is the source of the plateaus seen in the experiments, this diagram is very different and the fractal structure is mostly washed away. Also, the experiments control the filling factor and not the Fermi energy. If this diagram is plotted as a function of filling factor, all the features are completely washed away, hence, it has very little to do with the actual Hall physics.
Concerning physical mechanisms, impurities and/or particular states (e.g., edge currents) are important for both the 'integer' and 'fractional' effects. In addition, Coulomb interaction is also essential in thefractional quantum Hall effect.The observed strong similarity between integer and fractional quantum Hall effects is explained by the tendency of electrons to form bound states with an even number of magnetic flux quanta, calledcomposite fermions.
Bohr atom interpretation of the von Klitzing constant
editThe value of the von Klitzing constant may be obtained already on the level of a single atom within theBohr modelwhile looking at it as a single-electron Hall effect. While during thecyclotron motionon a circular orbit the centrifugal force is balanced by theLorentz forceresponsible for the transverse induced voltage and the Hall effect, one may look at the Coulomb potential difference in the Bohr atom as the induced single atom Hall voltage and the periodic electron motion on a circle as a Hall current. Defining the single atom Hall current as a rate a single electron chargeis making Kepler revolutions with angular frequency
and the induced Hall voltage as a difference between the hydrogen nucleus Coulomb potential at the electron orbital point and at infinity:
One obtains the quantization of the defined Bohr orbit Hall resistance in steps of the von Klitzing constant as
which for the Bohr atom is linear but not inverse in the integern.
Relativistic analogs
editRelativistic examples of the integer quantum Hall effect andquantum spin Hall effectarise in the context oflattice gauge theory.[31][32]
See also
editReferences
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Further reading
edit- D. R. Yennie (1987). "Integral quantum Hall effect for nonspecialists".Rev. Mod. Phys.59(3): 781–824.Bibcode:1987RvMP...59..781Y.doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.59.781.
- D. Hsieh; D. Qian; L. Wray; Y. Xia; Y. S. Hor; R. J. Cava; M. Z. Hasan (2008). "A topological Dirac insulator in a quantum spin Hall phase".Nature.452(7190): 970–974.arXiv:0902.1356.Bibcode:2008Natur.452..970H.doi:10.1038/nature06843.PMID18432240.S2CID4402113.
- 25 years of Quantum Hall Effect,K. von Klitzing, Poincaré Seminar (Paris-2004).Postscript.Pdf.
- Magnet Lab Press ReleaseQuantum Hall Effect Observed at Room Temperature
- Avron, Joseph E.; Osadchy, Daniel; Seiler, Ruedi (2003)."A Topological Look at the Quantum Hall Effect".Physics Today.56(8): 38.Bibcode:2003PhT....56h..38A.doi:10.1063/1.1611351.
- Zyun F. Ezawa:Quantum Hall Effects - Field Theoretical Approach and Related Topics.World Scientific, Singapore 2008,ISBN978-981-270-032-2
- Sankar D. Sarma,Aron Pinczuk:Perspectives in Quantum Hall Effects.Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2004,ISBN978-0-471-11216-7
- A. Baumgartner; T. Ihn; K. Ensslin; K. Maranowski; A. Gossard (2007). "Quantum Hall effect transition in scanning gate experiments".Phys. Rev. B.76(8): 085316.Bibcode:2007PhRvB..76h5316B.doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.76.085316.
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