Metastable anisotropy orientation of nematic quantum Hall fluids

TL;DR

This paper models the metastable anisotropy orientation in nematic quantum Hall fluids, explaining experimental observations through nucleation theory and predicting critical domain sizes.

Contribution

It introduces a model of a quantum nematic liquid with explicit symmetry breaking to interpret anisotropy rotation in quantum Hall fluids.

Findings

Predicted critical radius of nematic bubbles: ~2.6 micrometers

Nucleation rate computed within the model

Domains contain approximately 10,000 electrons

Abstract

We analyze the experimental observation of metastable anisotropy resistance orientation at half filled quantum Hall fluids by means of a model of a quantum nematic liquid in an explicit symmetry breaking potential. We interpret the observed ``rotation'' of the anisotropy axis as a process of nucleation of nematic domains and compute the nucleation rate within this model. By comparing with experiment, we are able to predict the critical radius of nematic bubbles, $R_c\sim 2.6 \mu m $. Each domain contains about $10^4$ electrons.