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HAIT Journal of Science and Engineering A Volume 3, Issue 1, pp. 102-152 © 2006 Holon Institute of Technology | |||||
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Thermodynamics of two-dimensional electrons on Landau levels
Israel D. Vagner
Research Center for Quantum Communication Engineering, | Holon Institute of Technology, 52 Golomb St., Holon 58102, Israel Grenoble High Magnetic Fields Laboratory, Max-Planck-Institute für Festkörperforschung and CNRS, 25 Avenue des Martyrs, BP166, F-38042, Grenoble, Cedex 9, France Center for Quantum Device Technology, Department of Physics, Clarkson University, Potsdam NY, USA email: vagner_@hait.ac.il Received 16 December 2005, accepted 13 March 2006
| We review here some aspects of modern thermodynamics of different two-dimensional electron systems (2DES) on Landau levels (i.e. in quantizing magnetic field). Some ideas are illustrated in the free electron 2DES model and are applied to calculation of the two dimensional de Haas- van Alphen effect. The main player in this game are the sharp quantum oscillations of the chemical potential, m(B,T), which define the magnetic oscillations of the all relevant physical properties. Treatment in the spirit of this general calculation schema of the thermodynamics of the strongly correlated systems as Q2D cuprates in the normal state provides new insights in the meaning of the effective mass and other physical parameters of these systems. Among the most amazing condensed matter phenomena is the orbital magnetic phase separation in clean normal metals at low temperatures, the well studied Condon domains. This instability is driven by the magnetic interactions}, i.e. by exchange of photons between the conduction electrons. We explain here, in a simple manner, how the sharp oscillations of the chemical potential should drive the quasi-two dimensional (Q2D) dense electron systems to an orbital magnetic phase separation. These Ideally Conducting Phases (ICP) are the 2D limit of the 3D Condon domains. The unusual properties of the ICP's, namely the quantum Hall effect, expected to appear, even in absence of impurities, in each magnetic domain, attracts the theoretical and experimental attention for the last 20 years. Here we review shortly the main physical aspects of this phenomenon. PACS: 71.18+y,75.20En,73.50Jt,74.40Kn
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