Coherent Terahertz Magneto-Spectroscopy of High-Mobility Two-Dimensional Electron Gases

Landau-quantized high-mobility two-dimensional electron gases (2DEG) in GaAs quantum wells provide an ideal platform for studying and controlling the coherence of many-electron states. Here, we study the coherent dynamics of cyclotron resonance (CR) in a 2DEGin the terahertz range. It is well known that Kohn's theorem protects the CR frequency from the influence of electron-electron interactions, but how the coherence of CR decays via electron-electron interactions is an open question. Since the 1980s, studies have focused on CR decoherence time measurements, primarily using incoherent far-infrared spectroscopy, which fails to obtain the true CR linewidth due to the `saturation effect' in high-mobility systems. By using coherent time-domain magneto-terahertz spectroscopy, we have systematically studied the CR decoherence time in an ultrahigh-mobility 2DEG as a function of both temperature and magnetic field. These results show a clear saturation of the CR decoherence time at low temperature, which decreases monotonically with increasing magnetic field. No filling-factor-dependent oscillations of CR dephasing time have been observed. Possible CR decoherence mechanisms will be discussed in light of these new findings.