Spin textures, screening and excitations in dirty quantum Hall ferromagnets

Journal article

We study quantum Hall ferromagnets in the presence of a random electrostatic impurity potential. Describing these systems with a classical non-linear sigma model and using analytical estimates supported by results from numerical simulations, we examine the nature of the ground state as a function of disorder strength, $\Delta$, and deviation, $\delta \nu$, of the average Landau level filling factor from unity. Screening of an impurity potential requires distortions of the spin configuration, and in the absence of Zeeman coupling there is a disorder-driven, zero-temperature phase transition from a ferromagnet at small $\Delta$ and $|\delta \nu|$ to a spin glass at larger $\Delta$ or $|\delta \nu|$. We examine ground-state response functions and excitations.

Authors: Rapsch, S; Chalker, J; Lee, D

• Journal: Phys. Rev. Lett.
• Volume: 88
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 036801
• Publication date: 2001-09-18
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.036801
• EISSN: 1079-7114
• ISSN: 0031-9007
• Language: English
• Keywords: cond-mat.stat-mech; cond-mat.mes-hall; cond-mat.dis-nn