Hysteretic microwave cyclotronlike resonance in a laterally confined two-dimensional electron gas

A hysteretic cyclotron resonance (CR) is discovered in a laterally confined high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. The hysteresis and switching phenomena are observed in microwave radiation absorption at temperatures below 25 K. The effect is accompanied by long-lived changes of the 2DEG density. We attribute these changes to modifications of vertical electron transport processes in heterostructures under microwave heating of the 2DEG. A phenomenological model based on the 2DEG density-dependent CR describes the main experimental findings.