Magnetotransport patterns of collective localization near $\nu=1$ in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas

TL;DR

This paper investigates complex magnetotransport behaviors near the $ u=1$ quantum Hall state in a high-mobility 2D electron gas, revealing signatures of an electron solid phase and its temperature-dependent resistance peaks.

Contribution

It provides new experimental evidence of the integer quantum Hall Wigner solid and identifies universal resistance peaks as signatures of isotropic electron solids in low-disorder samples.

Findings

Reentrant integer quantum Hall effect indicates formation of a Wigner solid.

Sharp resistance peaks at fixed filling factors are observed in the solid phase.

Proposes that resistance peaks are universal signatures of electron solids in such systems.

Abstract

We report complex magnetotransport patterns of the $\nu=1$ integer quantum Hall state in a GaAs/AlGaAs sample from the newest generation with a record high electron mobility. The reentrant integer quantum Hall effect in the flanks of the $\nu=1$ plateau indicates the formation of the integer quantum Hall Wigner solid, a collective insulator. Moreover, at a fixed filling factor, the longitudinal resistance versus temperature in the region of the integer quantum Hall Wigner solid exhibits a sharp peak. Such sharp peaks in the longitudinal resistance versus temperature so far were only detected for bubble phases forming in high Landau levels but were absent in the region of the Anderson insulator. We suggest that in samples of sufficiently low disorder sharp peaks in the longitudinal resistance versus temperature traces are universal transport signatures of all isotropic electron solids that form in the flanks of integer quantum Hall plateaus. We discuss possible origins of these sharp resistance peaks and we draw a stability diagram for the insulating phases in the $\nu$-$T$ phase space.