Crystallization of an exciton superfluid
- Institut fuer Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Christian-Albrechts-Universitaet, Leibnizstrasse 15, D-24098 Kiel (Germany)
Indirect excitons--pairs of electrons and holes spatially separated in semiconductor bilayers or quantum wells--are known to undergo Bose-Einstein condensation and to form a quantum fluid. Here we show that this superfluid may crystallize upon compression. However, further compression results in quantum melting back to a superfluid. This unusual behavior is explained by the effective interaction potential between indirect excitons, which strongly deviates from a dipole potential at small distances due to many-particle and quantum effects. Based on first-principles path-integral Monte Carlo simulations, we compute the complete phase diagram of this system and predict the relevant parameters necessary to experimentally observe exciton crystallization in semiconductor quantum wells.
- OSTI ID:
- 21596849
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 84, Issue 7; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.84.075130; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1098-0121
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATION
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CRYSTALLIZATION
DIPOLES
ELECTRONS
EXCITONS
HOLES
INTERACTIONS
LAYERS
MELTING
MONTE CARLO METHOD
PHASE DIAGRAMS
QUANTUM FLUIDS
QUANTUM WELLS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SUPERFLUIDITY
CALCULATION METHODS
DIAGRAMS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
FLUIDS
INFORMATION
LEPTONS
MATERIALS
MULTIPOLES
NANOSTRUCTURES
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
QUASI PARTICLES
SIMULATION