Anomalous coupling between magnetic and nematic orders in quantum Hall systems

TL;DR

This paper reveals a novel coupling between magnetic and nematic orders in quantum Hall systems, showing that magnetization enhances the stability of the nematic phase, which was previously thought to be independent of magnetic order.

Contribution

It uncovers an unexpected anomalous coupling between magnetic and nematic orders, demonstrating that magnetization can significantly stabilize the nematic phase in quantum Hall systems.

Findings

Nematic phase robustness depends on the orbital index of the Landau level.

Full magnetization enhances the stability and temperature range of the nematic phase.

Magnetization acts as a tuning parameter for nematic order in quantum Hall systems.

Abstract

The interplay between different orders is of fundamental importance in physics. The spontaneous, symmetry-breaking charge order, responsible for the stripe or the nematic phase, has been of great interest in many contexts where strong correlations are present, such as high-temperature superconductivity and quantum Hall effect. In this article we show the unexpected result that in an interacting two-dimensional electron system, the robustness of the nematic phase, which represents an order in the charge degree of freedom, not only depends on the orbital index of the topmost, half-filled Landau level, but it is also strongly correlated with the magnetic order of the system. Intriguingly, when the system is fully magnetized, the nematic phase is particularly robust and persists to much higher temperatures compared to the nematic phases observed previously in quantum Hall systems. Our results give fundamental new insight into the role of magnetization in stabilizing the nematic phase, while also providing a new knob with which it can be effectively tuned.