Ferromagnetic Fractional Quantum Hall States in a Valley-Degenerate Two-Dimensional Electron System

Abstract

We study a two-dimensional electron system where the electrons occupy two conduction band valleys with anisotropic Fermi contours and strain-tunable occupation. We observe persistent quantum Hall states at filling factors $\nu = 1/3$ and 5/3 even at zero strain when the two valleys are degenerate. This is reminiscent of the quantum Hall ferromagnet formed at $\nu = 1$ in the same system at zero strain. In the absence of a theory for a system with anisotropic valleys, we compare the energy gaps measured at $\nu = 1/3$ and 5/3 to the available theory developed for single-valley, two-spin systems, and find that the gaps and their rates of rise with strain are much smaller than predicted.