M. Kato et al., PROFILE OF PERIODIC POTENTIAL MODULATION PROBED BY MAGNETORESISTANCE OSCILLATION OF A 2-DIMENSIONAL ELECTRON-GAS, Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, 66(10), 1997, pp. 3178-3182
We have studied the profile of potential modulation introduced to a Ga
As/AlGaAs heterostructure two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) by a str
iped gold gate with period a = 500 nm on the surface. The magnetoresis
tance oscillation of 2DEG under one-dimensional periodic potential mod
ulation arising from commensurability between the period and cyclotron
diameter has been measured as a function of bias voltage applied to t
he gold gate. The bias alters both the amplitude and lineshape of the
potential seen by 2DEG, with concomitant change in the magnetoresistan
ce oscillation. The analysis of the magnetoresistance shows that with
a positive bias, the modulation amplitude is considerably reduced and
the third harmonic component becomes conspicuous. This suggests that t
he ''built-in'' potential modulation, caused mainly by strain resultin
g from differential contraction between the gold gate and GaAs, has mo
re rectangular landscape, than the potential added by the bias. The st
rain-induced third harmonic component accounts for the previously unex
plained extra dips in the magnetoresistance traces for a magnetically
modulated 2DEG with a ferromagnetic metal gate.