Stability of multielectron bubbles in high Landau levels

TL;DR

This study investigates multielectron bubble phases in high Landau levels, revealing sharp magnetoresistance peaks linked to bubble-liquid domain fluctuations and analyzing the onset temperatures and electron interactions influencing bubble formation.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the temperature-dependent behavior and electron interactions of multielectron bubbles in high Landau levels, highlighting the role of short-range interactions.

Findings

Sharp magnetoresistance peaks associated with bubble-liquid domain fluctuations.

Linear trends in onset temperatures for three-electron bubbles with respect to filling factor.

Similar onset temperatures for two-electron bubbles across different Landau levels, with an offset.

Abstract

We study multielectron bubble phases in the $N=2$ and $N=3$ Landau levels in a high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs sample. We found that the longitudinal magnetoresistance versus temperature curves in the multielectron bubble region exhibit sharp peaks, irrespective of the Landau level index. We associate these peaks with an enhanced scattering caused by thermally fluctuating domains of a bubble phase and a uniform uncorrelated electron liquid at the onset of the bubble phases. Within the $N=3$ Landau level, onset temperatures of three-electron and two-electron bubbles exhibit linear trends with respect to the filling factor; the onset temperatures of three-electron bubbles are systematically higher than those of two-electron bubbles. Furthermore, onset temperatures of the two-electron bubble phases across $N=2$ and $N=3$ Landau levels are similar, but exhibit an offset. This offset and the dominant nature of the three-electron bubbles in the $N=3$ Landau level reveals the role of the short-range part of the electron-electron interaction in the formation of the bubbles.