Reduced symmetry of heterointerfaces and orientational pinning of quantum Hall stripe phase

In a 2D electron system in (001) GaAs/AlGaAs upon filling high Landau levels, it was recently observed a new class of collective states, which are recognized now to relate to the spontaneous formation of a charge density wave (“stripe phase”). Here we analyze one of the possible mechanisms of the stripe pinning along the crystallographic direction [110]—the native effective mass anisotropy of 2D electrons. It is shown that for a symmetric quantum well this anisotropy is a linear function of applied perpendicular-to-plane electric field. So, if it is the anisotropy that defines the direction of the stripes, the critical in-plane magnetic field, when the stripes rotate, will strongly depend on the bias. The proper experiment will answer the question whether the native anisotropy of the effective mass is the mechanism of the pinning.