Giant microwave photoresistivity in a high-mobility quantum Hall system

A. T. Hatke, M. A. Zudov, L. N. Pfeiffer, K. W. West

Published 2011-05-06Version 1

We report the observation of a remarkably strong microwave photoresistivity effect in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron system subject to a weak magnetic field and low temperature. The effect manifests itself as a giant microwave-induced resistivity peak which, in contrast to microwave-induced resistance oscillations, appears only near the second harmonic of the cyclotron resonance and only at sufficiently high microwave frequencies. Appearing in the regime linear in microwave intensity, the peak can be more than an order of magnitude stronger than the microwave-induced resistance oscillations and cannot be explained by existing theories.