Reorientation of quantum Hall stripes within a partially filled Landau level

TL;DR

This study explores how the orientation of quantum Hall stripe phases in a two-dimensional electron gas depends on the filling factor and in-plane magnetic fields, revealing a filling-dependent reorientation of stripe directions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the native symmetry breaking potential influencing stripe orientation varies with filling factor, causing reorientation within a single Landau level.

Findings

Stripe orientation is sensitive to filling factor at certain magnetic fields.

Stripes reorient away from half-filling, showing a switch in anisotropy axes.

Native symmetry breaking potential depends strongly on filling factor.

Abstract

We investigate the effect of the filling factor on transport anisotropies, known as stripes, in high Landau levels of a two-dimensional electron gas. We find that at certain in-plane magnetic fields, the stripes orientation is sensitive to the filling factor within a given Landau level. This sensitivity gives rise to the emergence of stripes away from half-filling while an orthogonally-oriented, native stripes reside at half-filling. This switching of the anisotropy axes within a single Landau level can be attributed to a strong dependence of the native symmetry breaking potential on the filling factor.