Particle-Hole Symmetry and the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect in the Lowest Landau Level

W. Pan, W. Kang, M. P. Lilly, J. L. Reno, K. W. Baldwin, K. W. West, L. N. Pfeiffer, D. C. Tsui

Published 2019-02-26Version 1

We report on detailed experimental studies of a high-quality heterojunction insulated-gate field-effect transistor (HIGFET) to probe the particle-hole symmetry (PHS) of the FQHE states about half-filling in the lowest Landau level. The HIGFET was specially designed to vary the density of a two-dimensional electronic system under constant magnetic fields. We find in our constant magnetic field, variable density measurements that the sequence of FQHE states at filling factors nu = 1/3, 2/5, 3/7 ... and its particle-hole conjugate states at filling factors 1 - nu = 2/3, 3/5, 4/7 ... have a very similar energy gap. Moreover, a reflection symmetry can be established in the magnetoconductivities between the nu and 1 - nu states about half-filling. Our results demonstrate that the FQHE states in the lowest Landau level are manifestly particle-hole symmetric.