Local density of states of a three-dimensional conductor in the extreme quantum limit

The electronic structure of the narrow gap semiconductor InAs is investigated by scanning tunneling spectroscopy and magnetotransport measurements in the extreme quantum limit. The well-known oscillations of the Hall coefficient are reproduced and the last, most pronounced oscillation is shown to be correlated with the appearance of corrugations in the local density of states. While the increasing part of the Hall constant corresponds to the existence of isolated patterns indicating magnetic field induced localization, the decreasing part correlates with the development of a network which most likely consists of one-dimensional channels. We conclude that the decrease of the Hall constant in the extreme quantum limit is caused by a transition from a purely three-dimensional to a partly one-dimensional transport regime.