Quantum Point Contacts in a Density-Tunable Two-Dimensional Electron Gas

Abstract

Quantum point contacts fabricated using a backgated two-dimensional electron-gas system show clear quantized features and a 0.7 anomaly in conductance. Using these density-tunable point contacts, we have studied the behavior of the 0.7 anomaly. The 0.7 step shifts down to around 0.5 as the electron density is decreased under a zero magnetic field. This suggests that electron-electron interactions play an important role in forming the conductance anomalies of quantum point contacts.