Imaging quantum melting in a disordered 2D Wigner solid

Xiang, Ziyu; Li, Hongyuan; Xiao, Jianghan; Naik, Mit H.; Ge, Zhehao; He, Zehao; Chen, Sudi; Nie, Jiahui; Li, Shiyu; Jiang, Yifan; Sailus, Renee; Banerjee, Rounak; Taniguchi, Takashi; Watanabe, Kenji; Tongay, Sefaattin; Louie, Steven G.; Crommie, Michael F.; Wang, Feng

doi:10.1126/science.ado7136

Imaging quantum melting in a disordered 2D Wigner solid

Journal Article · Thu May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado7136· OSTI ID:2573791

^[1]; ^[1]; Xiao, Jianghan ^[1]; ^[1]; Ge, Zhehao ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[1]; ^[2]; ^[2]; Jiang, Yifan ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[4]; ^[3]; ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[1]

University of California at Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
University of California at Berkeley, CA (United States)
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (United States)
National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba (Japan)

Two-dimensional strongly interacting electrons crystalize into a solid phase known as the Wigner crystal at low densities and form a Fermi liquid at high densities. At intermediate densities, the two-dimensional solid evolves into a strongly correlated liquid phase around a critical density. We observed this quantum melting of a disordered Wigner solid in bilayer molybdenum diselenide (MoSe₂) using a noninvasive scanning tunneling microscopy imaging technique. At low densities, the Wigner solid forms nanocrystalline domains pinned by local disorder. It exhibits a quantum densification behavior with increased densities in the solid phase. Above a threshold density, the Wigner solid melts locally and enters a mixed phase in which solid and liquid regions coexist. The liquid regions expand and form a percolation network at even higher densities.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE); National Science Foundation (NSF); JSPS KAKENHI

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; SC0020653

OSTI ID:: 2573791

Journal Information:: Science, Journal Name: Science Journal Issue: 6748 Vol. 388; ISSN 1095-9203; ISSN 0036-8075

Publisher:: AAASCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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