Anisotropic low-temperature piezoresistance in (311)A GaAs two-dimensional holes

The authors report low-temperature resistance measurements in a modulation-doped, (311)A GaAs two-dimensional hole system as a function of applied in-plane strain. The data reveal a strong but anisotropic piezoresistance whose magnitude depends on the density as well as the direction along which the resistance is measured. At a density of 1.6×1011cm−2 and for a strain of about 2×10−4 applied along the [011¯], e.g., the resistance measured along this direction changes by nearly a factor of 2, while the resistance change in the [2¯33] direction is less than 10% and has the opposite sign. The accurate energy band calculations indicate a pronounced and anisotropic deformation of the heavy-hole dispersion with strain, qualitatively consistent with the experimental data. The extremely anisotropic magnitude of the piezoresistance, however, lacks a quantitative explanation.