QUENCHING OF THE HALL RESISTANCE IN A NOVEL GEOMETRY

We review experiments on the observation of Hall resistance anomalies in ballistic Hall junctions of novel geometries, in submicron GaAs-Al Ga As heterostructure devices. We demonstrate that the low magnetic field Hall resistance is greatly influenced by the junction geometry, and that particular geometries are required to give rise to a phenomenon known as “quenching” of the Hall resistance where the conventional linear Hall resistance is suppressed to nearly zero, and to a related plateau feature at slightly higher magnetic fields, known as the “last plateau.” These anomalies are explained in terms of the collimation of ballistic electron beams by specific geometric structures and the scattering properties of the Hall junction side walls.

Duke Scholars

Author Albert M. Chang Physics