Magnetotransport in disordered delta-doped heterostructures

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical study of electron behavior in delta-doped heterostructures, revealing droplet formation due to disorder and screening, and analyzes how this affects magnetotransport properties, aligning well with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a droplet-based model for electron distribution in delta-doped heterostructures and predicts magnetotransport behavior across different magnetic field regimes.

Findings

Electrons form droplet-like distributions at low densities due to disorder.

Derived magnetotransport dependencies match experimental observations.

The model accurately describes behavior in weak and moderate magnetic fields.

Abstract

We discuss theoretically how electrons confined to two dimensions in a delta-doped heterostructure can arrange themselves in a droplet-like spatial distribution due to disorder and screening effects when their density is low. We apply this droplet picture to magnetotransport and derive the expected dependence on electron density of several quantities relevant to this transport, in the regimes of weak and moderate magnetic fields. We find good qualitative and quantitative agreement between our calculations and recent experiments on delta-doped heterostructures.