Energy relaxation in the integer quantum Hall regime

Phys Rev Lett. 2010 Jul 30;105(5):056803. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.056803. Epub 2010 Jul 27.

Abstract

We investigate the energy exchanges along an electronic quantum channel realized in the integer quantum Hall regime at a filling factor of νL=2. One of the two edge channels is driven out of equilibrium and the resulting electronic energy distribution is measured in the outer channel, after several propagation lengths 0.8 μm≤L≤30 μm. Whereas there are no discernible energy transfers toward thermalized states, we find efficient energy redistribution between the two channels without particle exchanges. At long distances L≥10 μm, the measured energy distribution is a hot Fermi function whose temperature is lower than expected for two interacting channels, which suggests the contribution of extra degrees of freedom. The observed short energy relaxation length challenges the usual description of quantum Hall excitations as quasiparticles localized in one edge channel.