Anisotropic charge transport is observed in a two-dimensional (2D) hole system in a perpendicular magnetic field at filling factors nu=7/2, nu=11/2, and nu=13/2 at low temperature. In stark contrast, the transport at nu=9/2 is isotropic for all temperatures. Isotropic hole transport at nu=7/2 is restored for sufficiently low 2D densities or an asymmetric confining potential. The density and symmetry dependences of the observed anisotropies suggest that strong spin-orbit coupling in the hole system contributes to the unusual transport behavior.
@article{arxiv.0704.2215,
title = {Impact of spin-orbit coupling on quantum Hall nematic phases},
author = {M. J. Manfra and R. de Picciotto and Z. Jiang and S. H. Simon and L. N. Pfeiffer and K. W. West and A. M. Sergent},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0704.2215},
year = {2009}
}