Quantum wires as Luttinger liquids: experiment

  • Werner Wegscheider
  • Martin Rother
  • Frank Ertl
  • Rainer A. Deutschmann
  • Max Bichler
  • Gerhard Abstreiter
Correlations and Disorder
First Online:
Part of the Advances in Solid State Physics book series (ASSP, volume 40)

Abstract

The low-temperature ballistic transport properties of quantum wires prepared by the cleaved edge overgrowth method in the GaAs/AlGaAs material system are presented. As the Fermi energy in these one-dimensional (1D) systems is varied by application of a gate voltage a series of quantized conductance plateaus is observed. The plateau values significantly deviate from integer multiples of 2·e 2 /h and show a power law increase with increasing temperature as predicted by Luttinger liquid (LL) theory. The characteristic power law scaling exponent is obtained as a function of the Fermi energy and the number of occupied 1D subbands. From nonlinear current-voltage characteristics across the quantum wires independent LL power law scaling exponents can be deduced. The latter are found to be consistent with those obtained from temperature dependent measurements. In order to rule out contact effects as the only origin of the observed deviations we have investigated a series of quantum wires of different lengths and find quenching of the Luttinger liquid behavior as the wire length is increased. This observation is in agreement with a detailed analysis of reproducable conductance fluctuations which are superimposed on the conductance plateaus.

Keywords

Fermi Energy Gate Voltage Quantum Wire Differential Conductance Luttinger Liquid 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Bibliography

  1. [1]
    S. Tarucha, T. Honda, and T. Saku, Solid State Comm. 94, 413 (1995).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  2. [2]
    R. Held, S. Lüscher, T. Heinzel, K. Ensslin, W. Wegscheider, Appl. Phys. Lett. 75, 1134 (1999).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  3. [3]
    L. Pfeiffer, K. W. West, H. L. Störmer, J. P. Eisenstein, K. W. Baldwin, D. Gershoni, and J. Spector, Appl. Phys. Lett. 56, 1697 (1990).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  4. [4]
    W. Wegscheider, W. Kang, L. N. Pfeiffer, K. W. West, H. L. Stormer, und K. W. Baldwin, Solid-State Electron. 37, 547 (1994).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  5. [5]
    A. Yacoby, H. L. Stormer, N. S. Wingreen, L. N. Pfeiffer, K. W. Baldwin, and K. W. West, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 4612 (1996).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  6. [6]
    F. D. M. Haldane, J. Phys. C 14, 2585 (1981).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  7. [7]
    W. Apel and T. M. Rice, Phys. Rev. B 26, 7063 (1982).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  8. [8]
    C. L. Kane and M. P. A. Fisher, Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 1220 (1992); C. L. Kane and M. P. A. Fisher, Phys. Rev. B 46, 15233 (1992).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  9. [9]
    D. Yue, L. I. Glazman, and K. A. Matveev, Phys. Rev. B 49, 1966 (1994).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  10. [10]
    Y. Oreg and A. M. Finkel'stein, Phys Rev. B 54, R14265 (1996).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  11. [11]
    O. M. Auslaender, A. Yacobi, R. de Picciotto, K. W. Baldwin, L. N. Pfeiffer, and K. W. West, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 1764 (2000).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  12. [12]
    C. W. J. Beenakker an H. van Houten, in Solid State Physics, Semiconductor Heterostructures and Nanostructures, edited by H. Ehrenreich and D. Turnbull (Academic Press, New York, 1991).Google Scholar
  13. [13]
    D. L. Maslov and M. Stone, Phys. Rev. B 52, R5539 (1995); I. Safi and H. J. Schulz, Phys. Rev. B 52, R17040 (1995).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  14. [14]
    D. L. Maslov, Phys Rev. B 52, R14368 (1995).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  15. [15]
    K. A. Matveev and L. I. Glazman, Physica B 189, 266 (1993).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  16. [16]
    A. Kawabata and T. Brandes, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 65, 3712 (1996); N. P. Sandler and D. L. Maslov, Phys. Rev. B 55, 13808 (1997).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  17. [17]
    M. Steiner and W. Häusler, Solid State Commun. 104, 799 (1997).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  18. [18]
    R. Egger and H. Grabert, Phys Rev. B 58, 10761 (1998).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  19. [19]
    A. Y. Alekseev and V. V. Cheianov, Phys Rev. B 57, R6834 (1998).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  20. [20]
    S. R. Renn, D. P. Arovas, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 4091 (1997).CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  21. [21]
    R. de Picciotto, H. L. Stormer, A. Yacoby, K. W. Baldwin, L. N. Pfeiffer and K. W. West, in Proceedings of the 13 th International Conference on the Electronic Properties of Two-dimensional Systems, to appear in Physica E.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn Verlagsgesellschaft mbH 2000

Authors and Affiliations

  • Werner Wegscheider
    • 2
  • Martin Rother
    • 1
  • Frank Ertl
    • 1
  • Rainer A. Deutschmann
    • 1
  • Max Bichler
    • 1
  • Gerhard Abstreiter
    • 1
  1. 1.Walter Schottky InstitutGarchingGermany
  2. 2.Institut für Angewandte und Experimentelle PhysikUniversität RegensburgRegensburgGermany

Personalised recommendations