Quantum criticality, particle-hole symmetry, and duality of the plateau-insulator transition in the quantum Hall regime

A. M. M. Pruisken, D. T. N. de Lang, L. A. Ponomarenko, A. de Visser

Published 2001-09-04, updated 2002-05-07Version 2

We report new experimental data on the plateau-insulator transition in the quantum Hall regime, taken from a low mobility InGaAs/InP heterostructure. By employing the fundamental symmetries of the quantum transport problem we are able to disentangle the universal quantum critical aspects of the magnetoresistance data (critical indices and scaling functions) and the sample dependent aspects due to macroscopic inhomogeneities. Our new results and methodology indicate that the previously established experimental value for the critical index (kappa = 0.42) resulted from an admixture of both universal and sample dependent behavior. A novel, non-Fermi liquid value is found (kappa = 0.57) along with the leading corrections to scaling. The statement of self-duality under the Chern Simons flux attachment transformation is verified.