Linking insulator-to-metal transitions at zero and finite magnetic fields

被引:43
作者
Hanein, Y [1 ]
Nenadovic, N
Shahar, D
Shtrikman, H
Yoon, I
Li, CC
Tsui, DC
机构
[1] Weizmann Inst Sci, Dept Condensed Matter Phys, IL-76100 Rehovot, Israel
[2] Princeton Univ, Dept Elect Engn, Princeton, NJ 08544 USA
关键词
D O I
10.1038/23419
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
For many years, it was widely accepted(1) that electrons confined to two dimensions would adopt an insulating ground state at zero temperature and in zero magnetic field. Application of a strong perpendicular magnetic field changes this picture, resulting(2,3) in a transition from the insulating phase to a metallic quantum Hall state. Unexpectedly, an insulator-to-metal transition was recently observed(4) in high-quality two-dimensional systems at zero magnetic field on changing the charge carrier density. The mechanism underlying this transition remains unknown(5-9). Here we investigate the magnetic-field-driven transition in a two-dimensional gallium arsenide system, which also exhibits(10-12) the poorly understood zero-field transition. We find that, on increasing the carrier density, the critical magnetic field needed to produce an insulator-to-metal transition decreases continuously and becomes zero at the carrier density appropriate to the zero-field transition. Our results suggest that both the finite- and zero-magnetic field transitions share a common physical origin.
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收藏
页码:735 / 737
页数:3
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