CaltechAUTHORS
Published April 1, 1986 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

Evidence for depinning of a Wigner crystal in Hg-Cd-Te

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon University of Chicago
  • 2. ROR icon Honeywell (United States)

Abstract

We report measurements of the nonlinear current-voltage characteristics on low-carrier-concentration n-type samples of Hg_(0.76)Cd_(0.24)Te at high magnetic fields and low temperatures. We find the onset of nonlinear conductivity occurs at applied electric fields of less than 1 mV/cm. The effect can be easily distinguished from sample heating and is consistent with collective transport produced by the sliding of a Wigner crystal pinned by disorder. We estimate a disorder-induced correlation length of tens of micrometers.

Additional Information

© 1986 The American Physical Society. Received 15 April 1985; revised manuscript received 18 July 1985. We would like to thank R. M. Fleming, A. Libchaber, S. R. Nagel, G. A. Thomas, and C. M. Varma for helpful discussions. The work at the University of Chicago was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DMR-83-05065. D.H.R. received support from NSF Grant No. DMR-83-51992. T.F.R. would also like to thank the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for financial assistance.

Attached Files

Published - PhysRevB.33.5082.pdf

Files

PhysRevB.33.5082.pdf

Files (412.1 kB)

Name Size
md5:13ab187839b95197808018e3709fa0a3
412.1 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
47037
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20140707-163040434

Funding

NSF
DMR-83-05065
NSF
DMR-83-51992
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Dates

Created
2014-07-09
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-10
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Physics Department