Spontaneous interlayer coherence in double-layer quantum Hall systems: Charged vortices and Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transitions

Abstract

At strong magnetic fields, double-layer two-dimensional electron-gas systems can form an unusual broken-symmetry state with spontaneous interlayer phase coherence. In this paper we explore the rich variety of quantum and finite-temperature phase transitions associated with this broken symmetry. We describe the system using a pseudospin language in which the layer degree of freedom is mapped to a fictional spin 1/2 degree of freedom. With this mapping the spontaneous symmetry breaking is equivalent to that of a spin 1/2 easy-plane ferromagnet. In this language, spin textures can carry a charge. In particular, vortices carry \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}e/2 electrical charge and vortex-antivortex pairs can be neutral or carry charge \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}e. We derive an effective low-energy action and use it to discuss the charged and collective neutral excitations of the system. We have obtained the parameters of the Landau-Ginzburg functional from first-principles estimates and from finite-size exact diagonalization studies. We use these results to estimate the dependence of the critical temperature for the Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition on layer separation.