The reentrant integer quantum Hall effects (RIQHE) are due to formation of electronic crystals. We show analytically and numerically that topological textures in the charge density distribution in these crystals in the vicinity of charged defects strongly reduce energy required for current-carrying excitations. The theory quantitatively explains sharp insulator-metal transitions experimentally observed in RIQHE states. The insulator to metal transition in RIQHE emerges as a thermodynamic unbinding transition of topological charged defects.
@article{arxiv.1705.05233,
title = {Theory of topological excitations and metal-insulator transition in reentrant integer quantum Hall effect},
author = {G. E. Simion and T-G. Lin and J. D. Watson and M. J. Manfra and G. A. Csáthy and L. P. Rokhinson and Y. B. Lyanda-Geller},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.05233},
year = {2017}
}