Abstract
In usual quantum Hall devices, electric current flows through a thin layer with a uniform thickness. We consider a new quantum Hall device which has an potential barrier in the layer. Then the electrons flow by a tunnelling effect through the potential barrier. We investigate phenomena on the new quantum Hall device. Then voltage steps may appear in the curve of voltage V versus electric current I, when the magnetic field value is modulated by oscillation with a constant frequency f. The step value V is related to the transfer charge Q as V=(hf)/|Q|. The value of the transfer charge Q depends on the quantum Hall state. The usual theory implies that this value |Q| is e (elementary charge) for an integer quantum Hall state, and is νe for a fractional quantum Hall state with fractional filling factor ν. We examine the structure of the devices and show three types of them. Thereafter observation of this tunneling effect is investigated in details and it is clarified that the frequency value f should be within the special region. We find that the curve of (I, V) has several shapes. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2010.121]
