Anomalous Drag in Electron-Hole Condensates with Granulated Order

Hong Liu, Allan H. MacDonald, and Dmitry K. Efimkin

Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 166801 – Published 11 October 2021

Abstract

We explain the strong interlayer drag resistance observed at low temperatures in bilayer electron-hole systems in terms of an interplay between local electron-hole-pair condensation and disorder-induced carrier density variations. Smooth disorder drives the condensate into a granulated phase in which interlayer coherence is established only in well-separated and disconnected regions, or grains, within which the densities of electrons and holes accidentally match. The drag resistance is then dominated by Andreev-like scattering of charge carriers between layers at the grains that transfers momentum between layers. We show that this scenario can account for the observed dependence of the drag resistivity on temperature and, on average, charge imbalance between layers.

Received 3 November 2020
Accepted 1 September 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.166801

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Excitons Mesoscopics Superconductivity Superfluidity

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Hong Liu ^1,2, Allan H. MacDonald³, and Dmitry K. Efimkin ^1,2

¹School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia
²ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia
³Center for Complex Quantum Systems, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1192, USA