Scattering mechanisms in a high-mobility low-density carbon-doped (100) GaAs two-dimensional hole system

We report on a systematic study of the density dependence of mobility in a low-density carbon-doped (100) GaAs two-dimensional hole system (2DHS). At T = 50 mK, a mobility of 2.6 x 10(6) cm(2)/Vs at a density p = 6.2 x 10(10)cm(-2) was measured. This is the highest mobility reported for a 2DHS to date. Using a backgated sample geometry, the density dependence of mobility was studied from 2.8 x 10(10) cm(-2) to 1 x 10(11) cm(-2). The mobility vs density cannot be fit to a power law dependence of the form alpha similar to p(alpha) using a single exponent alpha. Our data indicate a continuous evolution of the power law with alpha ranging from similar to 0.7 at high density and increasing to similar to 1.7 at the lowest densities measured. Calculations specific to our structure indicate a crossover of the dominant scattering mechanism from uniform background impurity scattering at high density to remote ionized impurity scattering at low densities. This is the first observation of a carrier density-induced transition from background impurity dominated to remote dopant dominated transport in a single sample.