Kondo Lattice Scenario in Disordered Semiconductor Heterostructures

TL;DR

This paper proposes nuclear relaxation measurements as a reliable method to detect magnetic interactions and long-range order in disordered semiconductor heterostructures, offering advantages over traditional transport measurements.

Contribution

It introduces nuclear relaxation as a novel technique to identify long-range magnetic order in disordered 2D electron gases, challenging the reliance on transport measurements.

Findings

Nuclear relaxation can reliably probe magnetic interactions.

Transport measurements may not distinguish disorder from order.

Application to Kondo lattice detection in heterostructures.

Abstract

We study nuclear relaxation in the presence of localized electrons in a two-dimensional electron gas in a disordered delta-doped semiconductor heterostructure and show that this method can reliably probe their magnetic interactions and possible long-range order. In contrast, we argue that transport measurements, the commonly employed tool, may not sometimes distinguish between spatial disorder and long-range order. We illustrate the utility of using the nuclear relaxation method to detect long-range order by analyzing a recent proposal made on the basis of transport measurements, on the spontaneous formation of a two-dimensional Kondo lattice in a 2D electron gas in a heterostructure.