2009/03/31 by P. R. Eastham, Nigel R. Cooper, N. R. Cooper +2 · 1 citation
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Bilayer #Chemistry #Condensed matter physics #Electron #Ground state #Magnetic properties of thin films #Mechanics #Membrane #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum #Quantum Hall effect #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Quantum tunnelling #Vortex #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.80.045302
published as Phys. Rev. B 80, 045302 (2009) · 5 pages, 3 figures. v2 slightly extended to emphasize new length scale
arxiv created 2009/06/18 · openalex publication_date 2009/07/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present and solve a model for the vortex configuration of a disordered quantum Hall bilayer in the limit of strong and smooth disorder. We argue that there is a characteristic disorder strength below which vortices will be rare and above which they proliferate. We predict that this can be observed tuning the electron density in a given sample. The ground state in the strong-disorder regime can be understood as an emulsion of vortex-antivortex crystals. Its signatures include a suppression of the spatial decay of counterflow currents. We find an increase of at least an order of magnitude in the length scale for this decay compared to a clean system. This provides a possible explanation of the apparent absence of leakage of counterflow currents through interlayer tunneling, even in experiments performed deep in the coherent phase where enhanced interlayer tunneling is observed.