Interaction-controlled transport in a two-dimensional massless-massive Dirac system: Transition from degenerate to nondegenerate regimes

Abstract

The resistivity of two-dimensional (2D) metals generally exhibits insensitivity to electron-electron scattering. However, it is worth noting that Galilean invariance may not hold true in systems characterized by a spectrum containing multiple electronic branches or in scenarios involving electron-hole plasma. In the context of this paper, we focus on 2D electrons confined within a triple quantum well (TQW) based on HgTe. This system displays a coexistence of energy bands featuring both linear and paraboliclike spectra at low energy and, therefore, lacks the Galilean invariance. This paper employs a combined theoretical and experimental approach to investigate the transport properties of this two-component system across various regimes. By manipulating carrier density and temperature, we tune our system from a fully degenerate regime, where resistance follows a temperature-dependent behavior proportional to T2 to a regime where both types of electrons adhere to Boltzmann statistics. In the nondegenerate regime, electron interactions lead to resistance that is weakly dependent on temperature. Notably, our experimental observations closely align with the theoretical predictions derived in this paper. In this paper, we establish the HgTe-based TQW as a promising platform for exploring different interaction-dominant scenarios for the massless-massive Dirac system. Published by the American Physical Society 2024