Spontaneous interlayer coherence in double-layer quantum Hall systems: Symmetry-breaking interactions, in-plane fields, and phase solitons

At strong magnetic fields double-layer two-dimensional–electron-gas systems can form an unusual broken symmetry state with spontaneous interlayer phase coherence. The system can be mapped to an equivalent system of pseudospin 1/2 particles with pseudospin-dependent interactions and easy-plane magnetic order. In this paper we discuss how the presence of a weak interlayer tunneling term alters the properties of double-layer systems when the broken symmetry is present. We use the energy functional and equations of motion derived earlier to evaluate the zero-temperature response functions of the double-layer system and use our results to discuss analogies between this system and Josephson-coupled superconducting films. We also present a qualitative picture of the low-energy charged excitations of this system. We show that parallel fields induce a highly collective phase transition to an incommensurate state with broken translational symmetry. © 1996 The American Physical Society.