Spin-Excitation-Instability-Induced Quantum Phase Transitions in Double-Layer Quantum Hall Systems

Abstract

We study intersubband spin density collective modes in double-layer quantum Hall systems at $\ensuremath{\nu}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}2$ within the time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximation. We find that these intersubband spin density excitations may soften under experimentally accessible conditions, signaling a phase transition to a new quantum Hall state with interlayer inplane antiferromagnetic spin correlations. We show that this novel canted antiferromagnetic phase is energetically stable and that the phase transition is continuous.