Bias-induced breakdown of electron solids in the second Landau level

TL;DR

This paper investigates the breakdown behavior of reentrant integer quantum Hall states, revealing that the breakdown propagates chirally from contacts and depends on the electron or hole nature of the state, providing insights into their microscopic nature.

Contribution

It uncovers the chiral spreading of breakdown in RIQH states and links it to the electron or hole-like character, offering a new perspective on their microscopic description.

Findings

Breakdown propagates chirally from contacts.

Chirality depends on electron- or hole-like character.

Breakdown signatures indicate a phase boundary transition.

Abstract

Reentrant integer quantum Hall (RIQH) states are believed to be correlated electron solid phases, though their microscopic description remains unclear. As bias current increases, longitudinal and Hall resistivities measured for these states exhibit multiple sharp breakdown transitions, a signature unique to RIQH states. A comparison of RIQH breakdown characteristics at multiple voltage probes indicates that these signatures can be ascribed to a phase boundary between broken-down and unbroken regions, spreading chirally from source and drain contacts as a function of bias current and passing voltage probes one by one. The chiral sense of the spreading is not set by the chirality of the edge state itself, instead depending on electron- or hole-like character of the RIQH state.