Possible nematic to smectic phase transition in a two-dimensional electron gas at half-filling

TL;DR

This paper presents experimental evidence for a possible transition from a nematic to a smectic liquid crystal phase in a two-dimensional electron gas at half-filling, indicating complex symmetry-breaking phenomena.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental indications of a nematic to smectic phase transition in 2D electron systems at half Landau level filling.

Findings

Observation of non-monotonic resistance temperature dependence

Detection of large time-dependent resistance fluctuations

Identification of a sharp differential resistance feature

Abstract

Liquid crystalline phases of matter permeate nature and technology, with examples ranging from cell membranes to liquid-crystal displays. Remarkably, electronic liquid crystal phases can exist in two-dimensional electron systems (2DES) at half Landau level filling in the quantum Hall regime. Theory has predicted the existence of a liquid crystal smectic phase that breaks both rotational and translational symmetries. However, previous experiments in 2DES are most consistent with an anisotropic nematic phase breaking only rotational symmetry. Here we report three transport phenomena at half-filling in ultra-low disorder 2DES: a non-monotonic temperature dependence of the sample resistance, dramatic onset of large time-dependent resistance fluctuations, and a sharp feature in the differential resistance suggestive of depinning. These data suggest that a sequence of symmetry-breaking phase transitions occurs as temperature is lowered: first a transition from an isotropic liquid to a nematic phase and finally to a liquid crystal smectic phase.