Charge density waves and their transitions in anisotropic quantum Hall systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates how external anisotropy influences charge density wave phases in the $N=2$ Landau level of quantum Hall systems, revealing a transition from first-order to continuous phase transitions.

Contribution

It provides a combined analytical and numerical analysis showing that anisotropy suppresses bubble phases and promotes continuous phase transitions in quantum Hall charge density waves.

Findings

Bubble phase disappears with anisotropy

Stripe phase enlarges in phase diagram

Transitions become smooth and continuous

Abstract

In recent experiments, external anisotropy has been a useful tool to tune different phases and study their competitions. In this paper, we look at the quantum Hall charge density wave states in the $N=2$ Landau level. Without anisotropy, there are two first-order phase transitions between the Wigner crystal, the $2$-electron bubble phase, and the stripe phase. By adding mass anisotropy, our analytical and numerical studies show that the $2$-electron bubble phase disappears and the stripe phase significantly enlarges its domain in the phase diagram. Meanwhile, a regime of stripe crystals that may be observed experimentally is unveiled after the bubble phase gets out. Upon increase of the anisotropy, the energy of the phases at the transitions becomes progressively smooth as a function of the filling. We conclude that all first-order phase transitions are replaced by continuous phase transitions, providing a possible realisation of continuous quantum crystalline phase transitions.