Interlayer fractional quantum Hall effect in a coupled graphene double-layer

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of interlayer fractional quantum Hall states in a coupled graphene double-layer system, revealing new correlated states due to interlayer interactions under strong magnetic fields.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of interlayer correlated FQH states in graphene double-layers and introduces a composite fermion theory with interlayer coupling to explain these phenomena.

Findings

Observation of FQH states at integer CF Landau level fillings in both layers

Identification of semi-quantized states with coupled CF Landau levels

Detection of a quantized interlayer CF exciton condensate state

Abstract

In two-dimensional (2D) electron systems under strong magnetic fields, interactions can cause fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effects. Bringing two 2D conductors to proximity, a new set of correlated states can emerge due to interactions between electrons in the same and opposite layers. Here we report interlayer correlated FQH states in a system of two parallel graphene layers separated by a thin insulator. Current flow in one layer generates different quantized Hall signals in the two layers. This result is interpreted by composite fermion (CF) theory with different intralayer and interlayer Chern-Simons gauge-field coupling. We observe FQH states corresponding to integer values of CF Landau level (LL) filling in both layers, as well as "semi-quantized" states, where a full CF LL couples to a continuously varying partially filled CF LL. Remarkably, we also recognize a quantized state between two coupled half-filled CF LLs, attributable to an interlayer CF exciton condensate.