Possible existence of a band of extended states induced by inter-Landau-band mixing in a quantum Hall system

The mixing of states with opposite chiralities in a quantum Hall system is shown to have a delocalization effect. It is possible that extended states may form bands because of this mixing, as is shown through a numerical calculation on a two-channel network model. Based on this result, a new phase diagram with a narrow metallic phase separating two adjacent QH phases and/or separating a QH phase from the insulating phase is proposed. The data from recent non-scaling experiments are reanalysed and it is shown that they seem to be consistent with the new phase diagram. However, due to finite-size effects, further study on large system size is still needed to conclude whether there are extended state bands in the thermodynamic limit