Anisotropic composite fermions and fractional quantum Hall effect

Abstract: We study the role of anisotropy on the transport properties of composite fermions near Landau level filling factor $\nu=1/2$ in two-dimensional holes confined to a GaAs quantum well. By applying a parallel magnetic field, we tune the composite fermion Fermi sea anisotropy and monitor the relative change of the transport scattering time at $\nu=1/2$ along the principal directions. Interpreted in a simple Drude model, our results suggest that the scattering time is longer along the longitudinal direction of the composite fermion Fermi sea. Furthermore, the measured energy gap for the fractional quantum Hall state at $\nu=2/3$ decreases when anisotropy becomes significant. The decrease, however, might partly stem from the charge distribution becoming bilayer-like at very large parallel magnetic fields.