Negative longitudinal magnetoresistance in gallium arsenide quantum wells

Jing Xu, Meng K. Ma, Maksim Sultanov, Zhi Li Xiao, Yong Lei Wang, Dafei Jin, Yang Yang Lyu, Wei Zhang, Loren N. Pfeiffer, Ken W. West, Kirk W. Baldwin, Mansour Shayegan, Wai Kwong Kwok

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

Negative longitudinal magnetoresistances (NLMRs) have been recently observed in a variety of topological materials and often considered to be associated with Weyl fermions that have a defined chirality. Here we report NLMRs in non-Weyl GaAs quantum wells. In the absence of a magnetic field the quantum wells show a transition from semiconducting-like to metallic behaviour with decreasing temperature. We observe pronounced NLMRs up to 9 Tesla at temperatures above the transition and weak NLMRs in low magnetic fields at temperatures close to the transition and below 5 K. The observed NLMRs show various types of magnetic field behaviour resembling those reported in topological materials. We attribute them to microscopic disorder and use a phenomenological three-resistor model to account for their various features. Our results showcase a contribution of microscopic disorder in the occurrence of unusual phenomena. They may stimulate further work on tuning electronic properties via disorder/defect nano-engineering.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number287
JournalNature communications
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2019
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Chemistry
  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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