Anomalous stability of ν = 1 bilayer quantum Hall state

Abstract We have studied the fractional and integer quantum Hall (QH) effects in a high-mobility double-layer two-dimensional electron system. We have compared the “stability” of the QH state in balanced and unbalanced double quantum wells. The behavior of the ν = 1 QH state is found to be strikingly different from all others. It is anomalously stable, though all other states decay, as the electron density is made unbalanced between the two quantum wells. We interpret the peculiar features of the ν = 1 state as consequences of the interlayer quantum coherence developed spontaneously on the basis of the composite-boson picture.