Observation of geometry dependent conductivity in two-dimensional electron systems

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that the electrical conductivity of two-dimensional electron gases depends on system size at low temperatures and densities, consistent with localization theory, indicating phase coherence over micrometer scales.

Contribution

The paper provides experimental evidence of geometry-dependent conductivity in 2DEGs, confirming localization scaling laws and phase coherence over large lengths.

Findings

Conductivity scales with system length as σ ∼ L^α at low T and n_s.

The β-function derived from data aligns with theoretical predictions.

Electrons maintain phase coherence over ~10 μm in studied 2DEGs.

Abstract

We report electrical conductivity $\sigma$ measurements on a range of two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) of varying linear extent. Intriguingly, at low temperatures ($T$) and low carrier density ($n_{\mathrm{s}}$) we find the behavior to be consistent with $\sigma \sim L^{\alpha}$, where $L$ is the length of the 2DEG along the direction of transport. Importantly, such scale-dependent behavior is precisely in accordance with the scaling hypothesis of localization~[Abrahams~\textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{42}, 673 (1979)] which dictates that in systems where the electronic wave function $\xi$ is localized, $\sigma$ is not a material-specific parameter, but depends on the system dimensions. From our data we are able to construct the "$\beta$-function" $\equiv (h/e^2) d \ln \sigma / d \ln L$ and show this to be strongly consistent with theoretically predicted limiting values. These results suggest, remarkably, that the electrons in the studied 2DEGs preserve phase coherence over lengths $\sim~10~\mu$m. This suggests the utility of the 2DEGs studied towards applications in quantum information as well as towards fundamental investigations into many-body localized phases.