Hysteresis effect in the nu=1 quantum Hall system under periodic electrostatic modulation - art. no. 073302

The effect of a one-dimensional periodic electrostatic modulation on quantu m Hall systems with filling factor nu = 1, is studied. We propose that, eit her when the amplitude of the modulation potential or the tilt angle of the magnetic field is varied, the system can undergo a first-order phase trans ition from a fully spin-polarized homogeneous state to a partially spin-pol arized charge-density-wave state, and show hysteresis behavior of the spin polarization. This is confirmed by our self-consistent numerical calculatio ns within the Hartree-Fock approximation.