Pinning and Melting of a Quantum Wigner Crystal

What did scientists discover?

Scientists measuring the electrical resistivity of a two-dimensional electron system at ultra-high B/T (magnetic field over temperature) found the first evidence of a clear transition to a Wigner crystal state for the electrons in a high-quality gallium arsenide (GaAs) heterostructure.

Why is this important?

These results reveal a long-predicted quantum ground state arising from strong electron-electron interactions in a nearly ideal, two-dimensional electron system.

Who did the research?

T. Knighton¹, Z. Wu¹, J. Huang¹, A. Serafin², J.-S. Xia², K.W. Baldwin³, K.W. West³

¹Wayne State University; ²National MagLab and University of Florida; ³Princeton University

Why did they need the MagLab?

Scientists needed two aspects of the High B/T Facility: (1) the access to very low temperatures and high magnetic fields simultaneously, and (2) an ultra-quiet environment for high-sensitivity measurements of the electronic resisitivity.

Details for scientists

• View or download the expert-level Science Highlight, Pinning and melting of a quantum Wigner crystal
• Read the full-length publication, Evidence of two-stage melting of Wigner solids, in Phys Rev B

Funding

This research was funded by the following grants: G.S. Boebinger (NSF DMR-1157490, NSF DMR-1644779); J. Huang (NSF DMR-1410302)

For more information, contact Neil Sullivan.