Circular-polarization-dependent study of the microwave photoconductivity in a two-dimensional electron system

Photo-oscillations in MgZnO/ZnO heterostructures

We theoretically examine the characteristics of microwave-induced magnetoresistance (MIRO) and photovoltage oscillations in MgZno/ZnO heterostructures. We demonstrate that both kind of oscillations, although described with different physical properties, are intimately related sharing the same physical origin. We use the radiation driven electron orbit model showing that the interplay of radiation driven swinging Landau orbits and the scattering processes are at the heart of the oscillations in both scenarios. Thus, our simulations show that all photo-oscillations present the main features of MIRO: they are periodic with the inverse of the magnetic field and the oscillations minima are 1/4 cycle shifted.

Photovoltage oscillations in encapsulated graphene

We theoretically analyze the rise of photovoltage oscillations in hexagonal boron-nitride (h-BN) encapsulated monolayer graphene (h-BN/graphene/h-BN) when irradiated with terahertz radiation. We use an extension of the radiation-driven electron orbit model, successfully applied to study the oscillations obtained in irradiated magnetotransport of GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. The extension takes mainly into account that now the carriers are massive Dirac fermions. Our simulations reveal that the photovoltage in these graphene systems presents important oscillations similar to the ones of irradiated magnetoresistance in semiconductor platforms but in the terahertz range. We also obtain that these oscillations are clearly affected by the voltages applied to the sandwiched graphene: a vertical gate voltage between the two hBN layers and an external positive voltage applied to one of the sample sides. The former steers the carrier effective mass and the latter the photovoltage intensity and the oscillations amplitude. The frequency dependence of the photo-oscillations is also investigated.

Observation of Terahertz-Induced Magnetooscillations in Graphene

When high-frequency radiation is incident upon graphene subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field, graphene absorbs incident photons by allowing transitions between nearest Landau levels that follow strict selection rules dictated by angular momentum conservation. Here, we show a qualitative deviation from this behavior in high-quality graphene devices exposed to terahertz (THz) radiation. We demonstrate the emergence of a pronounced THz-driven photoresponse, which exhibits low-field magnetooscillations governed by the ratio of the frequency of the incoming radiation and the quasiclassical cyclotron frequency. We analyze the modifications of generated photovoltage with the radiation frequency and carrier density and demonstrate that the observed photoresponse shares a common origin with microwave-induced resistance oscillations discovered in GaAs-based heterostructures; however, in graphene it appears at much higher frequencies and persists above liquid nitrogen temperatures. Our observations expand the family of radiation-driven phenomena in graphene, paving the way for future studies of nonequilibrium electron transport.

Acoustoelectric Study of Microwave-Induced Current Domains

Surface acoustic waves (SAW) have been utilized to investigate the properties of a two-dimensional electron system subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field and monochromatic microwave radiation in the regime where the so-called microwave-induced zero-resistance states form. Contrary to conventional magnetotransport in Hall bar and van der Pauw geometries, the collimated SAW beam probes only the bulk of the electronic system exposed to this wave. Clear signatures appear in the SAW propagation velocity, corroborating that neither contacts nor sample edges are a root source for their emergence. By virtue of the directional nature of this probing method and with the assistance of theoretical modeling, we were able to demonstrate that the SAW response depends on the angle between its propagation vector and the orientation of domains that spontaneously form when zero-resistance is observed in transport. This confirms in unprecedented manner the formation of an inhomogeneous phase under these nonequilibrium conditions.

Study of narrow negative magnetoresistance effect in ultra-high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs 2DES under microwave photo-excitation

The microwave-induced change in the narrow negative magnetoresistance effect that appears around zero magnetic field in high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs 2DES (≈10⁷ cm²/Vs) is experimentally examined as a function of incident microwave power at a fixed bath temperature. The experimental results indicate that the narrow negative magnetoresistance effect exhibits substantially increased broadening with increasing microwave intensity. These magnetoresistance data were subjected to lineshape fits to extract possible variation of characteristic lengths with microwave intensity; the results suggest that characteristic lengths decrease by up to 50% upon increasing microwave power up to about 8 mW. We also examine the change in effective electron temperature, T_e, due to the photo-excitation in the absence of a magnetic field. Combining these results suggests a correlation between electron heating and the observed change in the fit extracted characteristic lengths.

Transverse Magnetosonic Waves and Viscoelastic Resonance in a Two-Dimensional Highly Viscous Electron Fluid

In high-mobility materials, conduction electrons can form a viscous fluid at low temperatures. We demonstrate that in a high-frequency flow of a two-dimensional electron fluid in a magnetic field the two types of excitations can coexist: those of the shear stress (previously unknown transverse magnetosound) and those associated with the charge density (conventional magnetoplasmons). The dispersion law and the damping coefficient of transverse magnetosound originate from the time dispersion of the viscosity of the fluid. Both the viscoelastic and the plasmonic components of the flow exhibit the recently proposed viscoelastic resonance that is related to the own dynamics of shear stress of charged fluids in a magnetic field. We argue that the generation of transverse magnetosound, manifesting itself by the viscoelastic resonance, is apparently responsible for the peak in photoresistance and peculiarities in photovoltage observed in ultrahigh-mobility GaAs quantum wells.

Microscopic model for radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations excited by circularly polarized radiation

We develop a microscopic model to explain the striking result of immunity to the sense of circularly polarized radiation of the photo-excited resistance oscillations in high-mobility 2D electron systems. Our model is based on the radiation-driven electron orbit model, previously developed to explain the photo-induced resistance oscillations and zero resistance states in these systems. According to it, the guiding center of the Landau states when irradiated by circularly polarized radiation performs a circular path driven by radiation. In principle, in an infinite sample, this path is different according to the the sense of circular polarization (left or right). However, the limited size of the sample with the essential role of the edges and the concurrent presence of the Hall electric field tend to quench the displacement of the driven guiding center making nearly equal both trajectories. In the end and in the presence of scattering, the longitudinal irradiated magnetoresistance turns out nearly the same irrespective of the sense of circular radiation.

Photon-Assisted Perfect Conductivity Between Arrays of Two-Level Atoms

We investigate interactions between two (parallel) arrays of two-level atoms (2LA) via photons through quantum electrodynamical interaction with one array (the source array) connected to a particle source, and we study the (photo-)resistivity of the other array (the measured array). The wave function of the interacted photon propagating in an array is a Bloch wave with a gap in its eigenvalue (the photonic dispersion). Due to interactions between arrayed 2LA and the dressed photonic field with non-linear dispersion, the conduction behaviors of the measured array can be very diversified according to the input energy of the particle source connected to the source array, and their relative positions. As a result, the resistivity of the measured array can be zero or negative, and can also be oscillatory with respect to the incoming energy of the particle source of the source array, and the separation between arrays.

Radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations in monolayer and bilayer graphene

We examine the characteristics of the microwave/mm-wave/terahertz radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations in monolayer and bilayer graphene and report that the oscillation frequency of the radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations in the massless, linearly dispersed monolayer graphene system should depend strongly both on the Fermi energy, and the radiation frequency, unlike in the case of the massive, parabolic, GaAs/AlGaAs 2D electron system, where the radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillation frequency depends mainly on the radiation frequency. This possible dependence of the magnetoresistance oscillation frequency on the Fermi level at a fixed radiation frequency also suggests a sensitivity to the gate voltage in gated graphene, which suggests an in-situ tunable photo-excitation response in monolayer graphene that could be useful for sensing applications. In sharp contrast to monolayer graphene, bilayer graphene is expected to show radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations more similar to the results observed in the GaAs/AlGaAs 2D system. Such expectations for the radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations are presented here to guide future experimental studies in both of these modern atomic layer material systems.

Cyclotron resonance in the high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs 2D electron system over the microwave, mm-wave, and terahertz- bands

The reflected microwave power from the photo-excited high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs 2D device has been measured over the wide frequency band spanning from 30 to 330 GHz simultaneously along with diagonal magnetoresistance as a function of the magnetic field. Easily distinguishable resonances in the reflected power signal are observed at the same magnetic fields as a reduced amplitude in the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations of the diagonal magnetoresistance. The reflection resonances with concurrent amplitude reduction in SdH oscillations are correlated with cyclotron resonance induced by microwave, mm-wave, and terahertz photoexcitation. The magnetoplasma effect was also investigated. The results suggest a finite frequency zero-magnetic-field intercept, providing an estimate for the plasma frequency. The experimentally measured plasma frequency appears to be somewhat lower than the estimated plasma frequency for these Hall bars. The results, in sum, are consistent with an effective mass ratio of m*/m = 0.067, the standard value, even in these high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs devices, at very large filling factors. Preliminary findings from this article have been published as conference proceedings, see Kriisa, A., et al., J. of Phys. Conf. Ser. 864, 012057 (2017).

Coherent backscattering in quasi-ballistic ultra-high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs 2DES

A small and narrow negative-magnetoresistance (MR) effect that appears about null magnetic field over the interval −0.025 ≤ B ≤ 0.025 T in magnetotransport studies of the GaAs/AlGaAs 2D system with μ ≈ 10⁷cm²/Vs is experimentally examined as a function of the sample temperature, T. The temperature dependent magnetoresistance data were fit using the Hikami et al. theory, without including the spin-orbit correction, to extract the inelastic length, l_i, which decreases rapidly with increasing temperature. It turns out that l_i < l_e, where l_e is the elastic length, for all T. Thus, we measured the single particle lifetime, τ_s, and the single particle mean free path l_s = v_Fτ_s. A comparison between l_i and l_s indicates that l_i > l_s. The results suggest that the observed small and narrow magnetoresistance effect about null magnetic field could be a manifestation of coherent backscattering due to small angle scattering from remote ionized donors in the high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs 2DES.

B-periodic oscillations in the Hall-resistance induced by a dc-current-bias under combined microwave-excitation and dc-current bias in the GaAs/AlGaAs 2D system

We report the observation of dc-current-bias-induced B-periodic Hall resistance oscillations and Hall plateaus in the GaAs/AlGaAs 2D system under combined microwave radiation- and dc bias excitation at liquid helium temperatures. The Hall resistance oscillations and plateaus appear together with concomitant oscillations also in the diagonal magnetoresistance. The periods of Hall and diagonal resistance oscillations are nearly identical, and source power (P) dependent measurements demonstrate sub-linear relationship of the oscillation amplitude with P over the span 0 < P ≤ 20 mW.

Circular-Polarization-Dependent Study of Microwave-Induced Conductivity Oscillations in a Two-Dimensional Electron Gas on Liquid Helium

The polarization dependence of the photoconductivity response at cyclotron-resonance harmonics in a nondegenerate two-dimensional (2D) electron system formed on the surface of liquid helium is studied using a setup in which a circular polarization of opposite directions can be produced. Contrary to the results of similar investigations reported for semiconductor 2D electron systems, for electrons on liquid helium, a strong dependence of the amplitude of magnetoconductivity oscillations on the direction of circular polarization is observed. This observation is in accordance with theoretical models based on photon-assisted scattering, and, therefore, it presents a principal argument in the dispute over the origin of microwave-induced conductivity oscillations.

Mutual influence between current-induced giant magnetoresistance and radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations in the GaAs/AlGaAs 2DES

Radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations are examined in the GaAs/AlGaAs 2D system in the regime where an observed concurrent giant magnetoresistance is systematically varied with a supplementary dc-current, I_dc. The I_dc tuned giant magnetoresistance is subsequently separated from the photo-excited oscillatory resistance using a multi-conduction model in order to examine the interplay between the two effects. The results show that the invoked multiconduction model describes the observed giant magnetoresistance effect even in the presence of radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations, the magnetoresistance oscillations do not modify the giant magnetoresistance, and the magnetoresistance oscillatory extrema, i.e., maxima and minima, disappear rather asymmetrically with increasing I_dc. The results suggest the interpretation that the I_dc serves to suppress scattering between states near the Fermi level in a strong magnetic field limit.

Tunable electron heating induced giant magnetoresistance in the high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs 2D electron system

Electron-heating induced by a tunable, supplementary dc-current (I_dc) helps to vary the observed magnetoresistance in the high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs 2D electron system. The magnetoresistance at B = 0.3 T is shown to progressively change from positive to negative with increasing I_dc, yielding negative giant-magnetoresistance at the lowest temperature and highest I_dc. A two-term Drude model successfully fits the data at all I_dc and T. The results indicate that carrier heating modifies a conductivity correction σ₁, which undergoes sign reversal from positive to negative with increasing I_dc, and this is responsible for the observed crossover from positive- to negative- magnetoresistance, respectively, at the highest B.

Dressed Photons Induced Resistance Oscillation and Zero Resistance in Arrayed Simple Harmonic Oscillators with No Impurity

We investigate a system of an array of N simple harmonic oscillators (SHO) interacting with photons through QED interaction. As the energy of photon is around the spacing between SHO energy levels, energy gaps appear in the dispersion relation of the interacted (dressed) photons. This is quite different from the dispersion relation of free photons. Due to interactions between dressed photonic field and arrayed SHO, the photoresistance of this system shows oscillations and also drops to zero as irradiated by EM field of varying frequencies.

Microwave-Induced Oscillations in Magnetocapacitance: Direct Evidence for Nonequilibrium Occupation of Electronic States

In a two-dimensional electron system, microwave radiation may induce giant resistance oscillations. Their origin has been debated controversially and numerous mechanisms based on very different physical phenomena have been invoked. However, none of them have been unambiguously experimentally identified, since they produce similar effects in transport studies. The capacitance of a two-subband system is sensitive to a redistribution of electrons over energy states, since it entails a shift of the electron charge perpendicular to the plane. In such a system, microwave-induced magnetocapacitance oscillations have been observed. They can only be accounted for by an electron distribution function oscillating with energy due to Landau quantization, one of the quantum mechanisms proposed for the resistance oscillations.

Radiation-induced resistance oscillations in a 2D hole gas: a demonstration of a universal effect

We report on a theoretical study about the microwave-induced resistance oscillations and zero resistance states when dealing with p-type semiconductors and holes instead of electrons. We consider a high-mobility two-dimensional hole gas hosted in a pure Ge/SiGe quantum well. Similarly to electrons we obtain radiation-induced resistance oscillations and zero resistance states. We analytically deduce a universal expression for the irradiated magnetoresistance, explaining the origin of the minima positions and their 1/4 cycle phase shift. The outcome is that these phenomena are universal and only depend on radiation and cyclotron frequencies. We also study the possibility of having simultaneously two different carriers driven by radiation: light and heavy holes. As a result the calculated magnetoresistance reveals an interference profile due to the different effective masses of the two types of carriers.

Comparative study of microwave radiation-induced magnetoresistive oscillations induced by circularly- and linearly- polarized photo-excitation

A comparative study of the radiation-induced magnetoresistance oscillations in the high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure two dimensional electron system (2DES) under linearly- and circularly- polarized microwave excitation indicates a profound difference in the response observed upon rotating the microwave launcher for the two cases, although circularly polarized microwave radiation induced magnetoresistance oscillations observed at low magnetic fields are similar to the oscillations observed with linearly polarized radiation. For the linearly polarized radiation, the magnetoresistive response is a strong sinusoidal function of the launcher rotation (or linear polarization) angle, θ. For circularly polarized radiation, the oscillatory magnetoresistive response is hardly sensitive to θ.

An incompressible state of a photo-excited electron gas

Two-dimensional electrons in a magnetic field can form new states of matter characterized by topological properties and strong electronic correlations as displayed in the integer and fractional quantum Hall states. In these states, the electron liquid displays several spectacular characteristics, which manifest themselves in transport experiments with the quantization of the Hall resistance and a vanishing longitudinal conductivity or in thermodynamic equilibrium when the electron fluid becomes incompressible. Several experiments have reported that dissipationless transport can be achieved even at weak, non-quantizing magnetic fields when the electrons absorb photons at specific energies related to their cyclotron frequency. Here we perform compressibility measurements on electrons on liquid helium demonstrating the formation of an incompressible electronic state under these resonant excitation conditions. This new state provides a striking example of irradiation-induced self-organization in a quantum system.

Two-dimensional phases of electrons exhibit interesting phenomena under magnetic fields. Chepelianskii et al. show that electrons on liquid helium exhibit an incompressible state when they are excited by a microwave field at particular frequencies related with the Landau level spacing.

Magneto-transport characteristics of a 2D electron system driven to negative magneto-conductivity by microwave photoexcitation

Negative diagonal magneto-conductivity/resistivity is a spectacular- and thought provoking-property of driven, far-from-equilibrium, low dimensional electronic systems. The physical response of this exotic electronic state is not yet fully understood since it is rarely encountered in experiment. The microwave-radiation-induced zero-resistance state in the high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs 2D electron system is believed to be an example where negative magneto-conductivity/resistivity is responsible for the observed phenomena. Here, we examine the magneto-transport characteristics of this negative conductivity/resistivity state in the microwave photo-excited two-dimensional electron system (2DES) through a numerical solution of the associated boundary value problem. The results suggest, surprisingly, that a bare negative diagonal conductivity/resistivity state in the 2DES under photo-excitation should yield a positive diagonal resistance, with a concomitant sign reversal in the Hall voltage.

Microwave-induced resistance oscillations versus magnetoabsorption in two-dimensional electron systems: role of temperature

Magnetoabsorption and microwave-induced resistance oscillations in two-dimensional electron systems are calculated with the same theoretical approach, the microwave-driven Larmor orbit model. This theory, which first was developed to obtain microwave-induced zero resistance states and resistance oscillations, permits us also to calculate the microwave magnetoabsorption. We study the influence of temperature on magnetoabsorption, obtaining a progressive quenching of the absorption peak as temperature increases. We compare this quenching with the similar behavior that the microwave-induced magnetoresistance oscillations present. This quenching is explained in terms of electron-acoustic phonons scattering for both effects.

Microwave zero-resistance states in a bilayer electron system

Magnetotransport measurements on a high-mobility electron bilayer system formed in a wide GaAs quantum well reveal vanishing dissipative resistance under continuous microwave irradiation. Profound zero-resistance states (ZRS) appear even in the presence of additional intersubband scattering of electrons. We study the dependence of photoresistance on frequency, microwave power, and temperature. Experimental results are compared with a theory demonstrating that the conditions for absolute negative resistivity correlate with the appearance of ZRS.

Nonlinear magnetoresistance oscillations in intensely irradiated two-dimensional electron systems induced by multiphoton processes

We report on magneto-oscillations in differential resistivity of a two-dimensional electron system subject to intense microwave radiation. The period of these oscillations is determined not only by microwave frequency but also by its intensity. A theoretical model based on quantum kinetics at high microwave power captures all important characteristics of this phenomenon which is strongly nonlinear in microwave intensity. Our results demonstrate a crucial role of the multiphoton processes near the cyclotron resonance and its harmonics in the presence of strong dc electric field and offer a unique way to reliably determine the intensity of microwaves acting on electrons.

Characterization of continuous-wave terahertz sources: laser mixing versus backward-wave oscillators

The tunable, continuous-wave terahertz (THz) radiation generated by mixing of two near-infrared laser lines in an antenna-coupled photomixer is compared with the monochromatic beam of backward-wave oscillators. The electromagnetic radiation of the different THz sources is characterized with respect to intensity, linewidth, degree of linear polarization, angular characteristic, beam quality, and M(2) value. The results are discussed with respect to applications in THz spectroscopy and imaging.

Phonon-induced resistance oscillations in 2D systems with a very high electron mobility

We report on the temperature dependence of acoustic-phonon-induced resistance oscillations in very-high mobility two-dimensional electron systems. We observe that the temperature dependence is nonmonotonic and that higher order oscillations are best developed at progressively lower temperatures. Our analysis shows that, in contrast with the Shubnikov-de Haas effect, phonon-induced resistance oscillations are sensitive to electron-electron interactions modifying the single particle lifetime.

Temperature dependence of microwave photoresistance in 2D electron systems

We report on the temperature dependence of microwave-induced resistance oscillations in high-mobility two-dimensional electron systems. We find that the oscillation amplitude decays exponentially with increasing temperature, as exp(-alphaT;{2}), where alpha scales with the inverse magnetic field. This observation indicates that the temperature dependence originates primarily from the modification of the single particle lifetime, which we attribute to electron-electron interaction effects.

Photocurrent and photovoltage oscillations in the two-dimensional electron system: enhancement and suppression of built-in electric fields

We observe microwave-induced photocurrent and photovoltage oscillations around zero as a function of the applied magnetic field in high mobility GaAs 2D electron systems. The photosignals pass zero whenever the microwave frequency is close to a multiple of the cyclotron resonance frequency. They originate from built-in electric fields due to for instance band bending at contacts. The oscillations correspond to a suppression (screening) or an enhancement ("antiscreening") of these fields by the photoexcited electrons.

Microwave photoresistance in dc-driven 2D systems at cyclotron resonance subharmonics

We study microwave photoresistivity oscillations in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron system subject to strong dc electric fields. We find that near the second subharmonic of the cyclotron resonance the frequency of the resistivity oscillations with a dc electric field is twice the frequency of the oscillations at the cyclotron resonance, its harmonics, or in the absence of microwave radiation. This observation is discussed in terms of the microwave-induced sidebands in the density of states and the interplay between different scattering processes in the separated Landau level regime.

Resonant phonon scattering in quantum Hall systems driven by dc electric fields

Using dc excitation to spatially tilt Landau levels, we study resonant acoustic phonon scattering in two-dimensional electron systems. We observe that dc electric field strongly modifies phonon resonances, transforming resistance maxima into minima and back into maxima. Further, phonon resonances are enhanced dramatically in the nonlinear dc response and can be detected even at low temperatures. Most of our observations can be explained in terms of dc-induced (de)tuning of the resonant acoustic phonon scattering and its interplay with inter-Landau level impurity scattering. Finally, we observe a resistance maximum when the electron drift velocity approaches the speed of sound and a dc-induced zero-differential resistance state.

Bichromatic microwave photoresistance of a two-dimensional electron system

We explore experimentally bichromatic (frequencies omega(1) and omega(2)) photoresistance of a two-dimensional electron system in the regimes of microwave-induced resistance oscillations and zero-resistance states. We find bichromatic resistance to be well described by a superposition of omega(1) and omega(2) and components, provided that both monochromatic resistances are positive. This relation holds even when the oscillation amplitudes are small and one could expect additive contributions from monochromatic photoresistances. In contrast, whenever a zero-resistance state is formed by one of the frequencies, such superposition relation breaks down and the bichromatic resistance is strongly suppressed.