Incipient Formation of an Electron Lattice in a Weakly-Confined Quantum Wire
Abstract
We study the low-temperature transport properties of 1D quantum wires as the confinement strength Vconf and the carrier density n1D are varied using a combination of split gates and a top gate in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. At intermediate Vconf and n1D, we observe a jump in conductance to 4e2/h, suggesting a double wire. On further reducing n1D, plateau at 2e2/h returns. Our results show beginnings of the formation of an electron lattice in an interacting quasi-1D quantum wire. In the presence of an in-plane magnetic field, mixing of spin-aligned levels of the two wires gives rise to more complex states.
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