Anisotropic Two-Dimensional Disordered Wigner Solid
Abstract
The interplay between the Fermi sea anisotropy, electron-electron interaction, and localization phenomena can give rise to exotic many-body phases. An exciting example is an anisotropic two-dimensional (2D) Wigner solid (WS), where electrons form an ordered array with an anisotropic lattice structure. Such a state has eluded experiments up to now as its realization is extremely demanding: First, a WS entails very low densities where the Coulomb interaction dominates over the kinetic (Fermi) energy. Attaining such low densities while keeping the disorder low is very challenging. Second, the low-density requirement has to be fulfilled in a material that hosts an anisotropic Fermi sea. Here, we report transport measurements in a clean (low-disorder) 2D electron system with anisotropic effective mass and Fermi sea. The data reveal that at extremely low electron densities, when the rs parameter, the ratio of the Coulomb to the Fermi energy, exceeds ≃ 38, the current-voltage characteristics become strongly nonlinear at small dc biases. Several key features of the nonlinear characteristics, including their anisotropic voltage thresholds, are consistent with the formation of a disordered, anisotropic WS pinned by the ubiquitous disorder potential.
- Authors:
-
- Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1980302
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1876118
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FG02-00ER45841; DMR-2104771; ECCS-1906253; DMR-1709076; DMR-2011750; GBMF9615; DEFG02-00-ER45841
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 129; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 42 ENGINEERING; Physics; fractional quantum Hall effect; disordered systems; two-dimensional electron gas; Wigner crystal
Citation Formats
Hossain, Md S., Ma, M. K., Villegas-Rosales, K. A., Chung, Y. J., Pfeiffer, L. N., West, K. W., Baldwin, K. W., and Shayegan, M. Anisotropic Two-Dimensional Disordered Wigner Solid. United States: N. p., 2022.
Web. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.129.036601.
Hossain, Md S., Ma, M. K., Villegas-Rosales, K. A., Chung, Y. J., Pfeiffer, L. N., West, K. W., Baldwin, K. W., & Shayegan, M. Anisotropic Two-Dimensional Disordered Wigner Solid. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.129.036601
Hossain, Md S., Ma, M. K., Villegas-Rosales, K. A., Chung, Y. J., Pfeiffer, L. N., West, K. W., Baldwin, K. W., and Shayegan, M. Wed .
"Anisotropic Two-Dimensional Disordered Wigner Solid". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.129.036601. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1980302.
@article{osti_1980302,
title = {Anisotropic Two-Dimensional Disordered Wigner Solid},
author = {Hossain, Md S. and Ma, M. K. and Villegas-Rosales, K. A. and Chung, Y. J. and Pfeiffer, L. N. and West, K. W. and Baldwin, K. W. and Shayegan, M.},
abstractNote = {The interplay between the Fermi sea anisotropy, electron-electron interaction, and localization phenomena can give rise to exotic many-body phases. An exciting example is an anisotropic two-dimensional (2D) Wigner solid (WS), where electrons form an ordered array with an anisotropic lattice structure. Such a state has eluded experiments up to now as its realization is extremely demanding: First, a WS entails very low densities where the Coulomb interaction dominates over the kinetic (Fermi) energy. Attaining such low densities while keeping the disorder low is very challenging. Second, the low-density requirement has to be fulfilled in a material that hosts an anisotropic Fermi sea. Here, we report transport measurements in a clean (low-disorder) 2D electron system with anisotropic effective mass and Fermi sea. The data reveal that at extremely low electron densities, when the rs parameter, the ratio of the Coulomb to the Fermi energy, exceeds ≃ 38, the current-voltage characteristics become strongly nonlinear at small dc biases. Several key features of the nonlinear characteristics, including their anisotropic voltage thresholds, are consistent with the formation of a disordered, anisotropic WS pinned by the ubiquitous disorder potential.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevlett.129.036601},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 3,
volume = 129,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jul 13 00:00:00 EDT 2022},
month = {Wed Jul 13 00:00:00 EDT 2022}
}
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