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Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 256802 (2003) [4 pages]

Disorder-Driven Collapse of the Mobility Gap and Transition to an Insulator in the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

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D. N. Sheng1, Xin Wan2, E. H. Rezayi3, Kun Yang2, R. N. Bhatt4, and F. D. M. Haldane5
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, California State University, Northridge, California 91330, USA
2National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahasse, Florida 32306, USA
3Physics Department, California State University Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90032, USA
4Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA
5Department of Physics, Jadwin Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA

Received 12 February 2003; published 26 June 2003

We study the ν=1/3 quantum Hall state in the presence of random disorder. We calculate the topologically invariant Chern number, which is the only quantity known at present to distinguish unambiguously between insulating and current carrying states in an interacting system. The mobility gap can be determined numerically this way and is found to agree with experimental value semiquantitatively. As the disorder strength increases towards a critical value, both the mobility gap and plateau width narrow continuously and ultimately collapse, leading to an insulating phase.

© 2003 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.256802
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.256802
PACS:
73.43.Lp, 73.43.Nq, 73.43.Qt
 
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