Conductivity of a Spin-Polarized Two-Dimensional Hole Gas at Very Low Temperature

In the ballistic regime where k(B)T tau/h >= 1, the temperature dependence of the metallic conductivity in a two-dimensional hole system of gallium arsenide, is found to change non-monotonically with the degree of spin polarization. In particular, it fades away just before the onset of complete spin polarization, but reappears again in the fully spin-polarized state, being, however, suppressed relative to the zero magnetic field case. The analysis of the degree of suppression can distinguish between screening and interaction-based theories. We show that in a fully polarized spin state, the effects of disorder are dominant and approach a strong localization regime, which is contrary to the behavior of 2D electron systems in a weakly disordered unpolarized state. It was found that the elastic relaxation time correction, depending on the temperature, changed significantly with the degree of spin polarization, to reach a minimum just below the start of the spin-polarized integer, where the conductivity is practically independent of temperature.