Anisotropic low-temperature piezoresistance in (311)A GaAs two-dimensional holes

TL;DR

This study investigates the anisotropic piezoresistance in a (311)A GaAs two-dimensional hole system at low temperatures, revealing strong directional dependence and strain effects on resistance, supported by energy band calculations.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement of anisotropic low-temperature piezoresistance in (311)A GaAs 2D holes and compares experimental results with theoretical band calculations.

Findings

Resistance changes by nearly a factor of two along one direction under strain.

Resistance change is less than 10% and opposite in sign along the perpendicular direction.

Energy band calculations qualitatively agree with the observed anisotropic deformation.

Abstract

We report low-temperature resistance measurements in a modulation-doped, (311)A GaAs two-dimensional hole system as a function of applied in-plane strain. The data reveal a strong but anisotropic piezoresistance whose magnitude depends on the density as well as the direction along which the resistance is measured. At a density of $1.6\times10^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$ and for a strain of about $2\times10^{-4}$ applied along [01$\bar{1}$], e.g., the resistance measured along this direction changes by nearly a factor of two while the resistance change in the [$\bar{2}$33] direction is less than 10% and has the opposite sign. Our accurate energy band calculations indicate a pronounced and anisotropic deformation of the heavy-hole dispersion with strain, qualitatively consistent with the experimental data. The extremely anisotropic magnitude of the piezoresistance, however, lacks a quantitative explanation.