Breakdown of counterflow superfluidity in a disordered quantum Hall bilayer

TL;DR

This paper develops a theory for the breakdown of superfluidity in a disordered quantum Hall bilayer, predicting a critical current for tunneling failure based on domain formation and vortex pinning, supported by numerical simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model of polarized superfluid domains with vortex pinning to explain tunneling breakdown in disordered quantum Hall bilayers.

Findings

Critical current scales with system size

Disorder induces domain formation and vortex pinning

Numerical results support the domain-based model

Abstract

We present a theory for the regime of coherent interlayer tunneling in a disordered quantum Hall bilayer at total filling factor one, allowing for the effect of static vortices. We find that the system consists of domains of polarized superfluid phase. Injected currents introduce phase slips between the polarized domains which are pinned by disorder. We present a model of saturated tunneling domains that predicts a critical current for the breakdown of coherent tunneling that is extensive in the system size. This theory is supported by numerical results from a disordered phase model in two dimensions. We also discuss how our picture might be used to interpret experiments in the counterflow geometry and in two-terminal measurements.