Schrödinger Cat States in Giant Negative Magnetoresistance of 2D Electron Systems

We investigate the effect of giant negative magnetoresistance in ultrahigh-mobility (μ≫107cm2V−1s−1) two-dimensional electron systems. These systems present a dramatic drop in the mangetoresistance at low magnetic fields (B∼0.1 T) and temperatures (T∼0.1 K). This effect is reversed by increasing the temperature or the presence of an in-plane magnetic field. The motivation for the present work is to develop a microscopical model to explain the experimental evidence, based on coherent states and Schródinger cat states of the quantum harmonic oscillator. Thus, we approach the giant negative magnetoresistance effect based on the description of ultrahigh-mobility two-dimensional electron systems in terms of Schrödinger cat states (superposition of coherent states of the quantum harmonic oscillator). We explain the experimental results in terms of the increasing disorder in the sample due to the rising temperature or the in-plane magnetic field, breaking up the Schrödinger cat states and giving rise to mere coherent states, which hold magnetoresistance in lower-mobility samples. The latter, jointly with the description of ultrahigh-mobility samples with Schrödinger cat states, accounts for the main contribution. The most interesting application of this novel description of such systems would be in the implementation of qubits for quantum computing based on bosonic models.