High-quality quantum point contact in two-dimensional GaAs (311)A hole system

Abstract

We studied ballistic transport across a quantum point contact (QPC) defined in a high-quality GaAs (311)A two-dimensional hole system using shallow etching and top gating. The QPC conductance exhibits up to 11 quantized plateaus. The ballistic one-dimensional subbands are tuned by changing the lateral confinement and the Fermi energy of the holes in the QPC. We demonstrate that the positions of the plateaus (in gate voltage), the source-drain data, and the negative magnetoresistance data can be understood in a simple model that takes into account the variation, with gate bias, of the hole density and the width of the QPC conducting channel.