Valley polarization assisted spin polarization in two dimensions

V. T. Renard (), B. A. Piot, X. Waintal, G. Fleury, D. Cooper, Y. Niida, D. Tregurtha, A. Fujiwara, Y. Hirayama and K. Takashina
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V. T. Renard: Université Grenoble Alpes/CEA, INAC-SPSMS
B. A. Piot: Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses, CNRS-UJF-UPS-INSA-EMFL
X. Waintal: Université Grenoble Alpes/CEA, INAC-SPSMS
G. Fleury: Service de Physique de l’État Condensé, DSM/IRAMIS/SPEC
D. Cooper: Université Grenoble Alpes/CEA Leti Minatec campus
Y. Niida: Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University
D. Tregurtha: University of Bath
A. Fujiwara: NTT Basic Research Laboratories, NTT Corporation
Y. Hirayama: Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University
K. Takashina: University of Bath

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Valleytronics is rapidly emerging as an exciting area of basic and applied research. In two-dimensional systems, valley polarization can dramatically modify physical properties through electron–electron interactions as demonstrated by such phenomena as the fractional quantum Hall effect and the metal-insulator transition. Here, we address the electrons’ spin alignment in a magnetic field in silicon-on-insulator quantum wells under valley polarization. In stark contrast to expectations from a non-interacting model, we show experimentally that less magnetic field can be required to fully spin polarize a valley-polarized system than a valley-degenerate one. Furthermore, we show that these observations are quantitatively described by parameter-free ab initio quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We interpret the results as a manifestation of the greater stability of the spin- and valley-degenerate system against ferromagnetic instability and Wigner crystalization, which in turn suggests the existence of a new strongly correlated electron liquid at low electron densities.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8230

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