Rights statement: © 1996 The American Physical Society
Final published version, 101 KB, PDF document
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
<mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 15/05/1996 |
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<mark>Journal</mark> | Physical review B |
Issue number | 20 |
Volume | 53 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Pages (from-to) | 13260-13263 |
Publication Status | Published |
<mark>Original language</mark> | English |
We compare the results of the transport and time-resolved magnetoluminescence measurements in disordered two-dimensional (2D) electron systems in GaAs-AlxGa1-xAs heterostructures in the extreme quantum limit, particularly in the vicinity of the metal-insulator transition (MIT). At filling factors nu<1, the optical signal has two components: the single-rate exponentially decaying part attributed to a uniform liquid and a power-law long-living tail specific to a microscopically inhomogeneous state of electrons. We interpret this result as a separation of the 2D electron system into liquid and localized phases, especially because the MIT occurs strikingly close to those filling factors where the liquid occupies 1/2 of the sample area (the percolation threshold condition in two-component media).