D. Maryenko

Observation of the fractional quantum Hall effect in an oxide

The quantum Hall effect arises from the cyclotron motion of charge carriers in two-dimensional systems. However, the ground states related to the integer and fractional quantum Hall effect, respectively, are of entirely different origin. The former can be explained within a single-particle picture; the latter arises from electron correlation effects governed by Coulomb interaction. The prerequisite for the observation of these effects is extremely smooth interfaces of the thin film layers to which the charge carriers are confined. So far, experimental observations of such quantum transport phenomena have been limited to a few material systems based on silicon, III-V compounds and graphene. In ionic materials, the correlation between electrons is expected to be more pronounced than in the conventional heterostructures, owing to a large effective mass of charge carriers. Here we report the observation of the fractional quantum Hall effect in MgZnO/ZnO heterostructures grown by molecular-beam epitaxy, in which the electron mobility exceeds 180,000 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1). Fractional states such as ν = 4/3, 5/3 and 8/3 clearly emerge, and the appearance of the ν = 2/5 state is indicated. The present study represents a technological advance in oxide electronics that provides opportunities to explore strongly correlated phenomena in quantum transport of dilute carriers.

Magnesium Doping Controlled Density and Mobility of Two-Dimensional Electron Gas in MgxZn1-xO/ZnO Heterostructures

The magnesium content in MgxZn1-xO/ZnO heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy enables the careful control of the carrier density of the two-dimensional electron system down to 5.6×1010 cm-2 while retaining a mobility of 200,000 cm2 V-1 s-1 when pursuing magnesium concentrations as low as x = 0.0038. By selecting an optimum magnesium content (x~0.01), the mobility is enhanced to over 700,000 cm2 V-1 s-1 due to reduced impurity levels associated with the use of pure distilled ozone and avoiding interface roughness scattering. This control technique allows access to the coherent transport region with strong electron–electron interaction.

Observation of the quantum Hall effect in δ-doped SrTiO3.

The quantum Hall effect is a macroscopic quantum phenomenon in a two-dimensional electron system. The two-dimensional electron system in SrTiO3 has sparked a great deal of interest, mainly because of the strong electron correlation effects expected from the 3d orbitals. Here we report the observation of the quantum Hall effect in a dilute La-doped SrTiO3-two-dimensional electron system, fabricated by metal organic molecular-beam epitaxy. The quantized Hall plateaus are found to be solely stemming from the low Landau levels with even integer-filling factors, ν=4 and 6 without any contribution from odd νs. For ν=4, the corresponding plateau disappears on decreasing the carrier density. Such peculiar behaviours are proposed to be due to the crossing between the Landau levels originating from the two subbands composed of d orbitals with different effective masses. Our findings pave a way to explore unprecedented quantum phenomena in d-electron systems.

Temperature-dependent magnetotransport around ν=1/2 in ZnO heterostructures.

The sequence of prominent fractional quantum Hall states up to ν=5/11 around ν=1/2 in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron system confined at oxide heterointerface (ZnO) is analyzed in terms of the composite fermion model. The temperature dependence of R(xx) oscillations around ν=1/2 yields an estimation of the composite fermion effective mass, which increases linearly with the magnetic field. This mass is of similar value to an enhanced electron effective mass, which in itself arises from strong electron interaction. The energy gaps of fractional states and the temperature dependence of R(xx) at ν=1/2 point to large residual interactions between composite fermions.

Insulating phase of a two-dimensional electron gas in MgxZn1−xO/ZnO heterostructures belowν=13

We report magnetotransport properties of a two-dimensional electron gas confined at MgZnO/ZnO heterointerface in a high magnetic field up to 26 T. High electron mobility and low charge carrier density enabled the observation of the fractional quantum Hall state ν = 1/3. For an even lower charge carrier density, we observe a transition from quantum Hall liquid to an insulator below the filling factor 1/3. Because of the large electron effective mass in ZnO, we suggest the MgZnO/ZnO heterostructures to be a prototype system for highly correlated quantum Hall physics.

Polarization-dependent Landau level crossing in a two-dimensional electron system in a MgZnO/ZnO heterostructure

We report electrical transport measurements in a tilted magnetic field on a high-mobility two-dimensional electron system (2DES) confined at the MgZnO/ZnO heterointerface. The observation of multiple crossing events of spin-resolved Landau levels (LLs) enables the mapping of the sequence of electronic states. We further measure the renormalization of electron spin susceptibility at zero field and the susceptibility dependence on the electron spin polarization. The latter manifests the deviation from the Pauli spin susceptibility. As a result, the crossing of spin-resolved LLs shifts to smaller tilt angles and the first Landau level coincidence event is absent even when the magnetic field has only a component perpendicular to the 2DES plane.

Observation of anomalous Hall effect in a non-magnetic two-dimensional electron system

Anomalous Hall effect, a manifestation of Hall effect occurring in systems without time-reversal symmetry, has been mostly observed in ferromagnetically ordered materials. However, its realization in high-mobility two-dimensional electron system remains elusive, as the incorporation of magnetic moments deteriorates the device performance compared to non-doped structure. Here we observe systematic emergence of anomalous Hall effect in various MgZnO/ZnO heterostructures that exhibit quantum Hall effect. At low temperatures, our nominally non-magnetic heterostructures display an anomalous Hall effect response similar to that of a clean ferromagnetic metal, while keeping a large anomalous Hall effect angle θAHE≈20°. Such a behaviour is consistent with Giovannini–Kondo model in which the anomalous Hall effect arises from the skew scattering of electrons by localized paramagnetic centres. Our study unveils a new aspect of many-body interactions in two-dimensional electron systems and shows how the anomalous Hall effect can emerge in a non-magnetic system.

Air-gap gating of MgZnO/ZnO heterostructures

The adaptation of “air-gap” dielectric based field-effect transistor technology to controlling the MgZnO/ZnO heterointerface confined two-dimensional electron system (2DES) is reported. We find it possible to tune the charge density of the 2DES via a gate electrode spatially separated from the heterostructure surface by a distance of 5 μm. Under static gating, the observation of the quantum Hall effect suggests that the charge carrier density remains homogeneous, with the 2DES in the 3 mm square sample the sole conductor. The availability of this technology enables the exploration of the charge carrier density degree of freedom in the pristine sample limit.