TY - JOUR
T1 - Thermal and Quantum Melting Phase Diagrams for a Magnetic-Field-Induced Wigner Solid
AU - Ma, Meng K.
AU - Villegas Rosales, K. A.
AU - Deng, H.
AU - Chung, Y. J.
AU - Pfeiffer, L. N.
AU - West, K. W.
AU - Baldwin, K. W.
AU - Winkler, R.
AU - Shayegan, M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Physical Society.
PY - 2020/7/17
Y1 - 2020/7/17
N2 - A sufficiently large perpendicular magnetic field quenches the kinetic (Fermi) energy of an interacting two-dimensional (2D) system of fermions, making them susceptible to the formation of a Wigner solid (WS) phase in which the charged carriers organize themselves in a periodic array in order to minimize their Coulomb repulsion energy. In low-disorder 2D electron systems confined to modulation-doped GaAs heterostructures, signatures of a magnetic-field-induced WS appear at low temperatures and very small Landau level filling factors (ν≃1/5). In dilute GaAs 2D hole systems, on the other hand, thanks to the larger hole effective mass and the ensuing Landau level mixing, the WS forms at relatively higher fillings (ν≃1/3). Here we report our measurements of the fundamental temperature vs filling phase diagram for the 2D holes' WS-liquid thermal melting. Moreover, via changing the 2D hole density, we also probe their Landau level mixing vs filling WS-liquid quantum melting phase diagram. We find our data to be in good agreement with the results of very recent calculations, although intriguing subtleties remain.
AB - A sufficiently large perpendicular magnetic field quenches the kinetic (Fermi) energy of an interacting two-dimensional (2D) system of fermions, making them susceptible to the formation of a Wigner solid (WS) phase in which the charged carriers organize themselves in a periodic array in order to minimize their Coulomb repulsion energy. In low-disorder 2D electron systems confined to modulation-doped GaAs heterostructures, signatures of a magnetic-field-induced WS appear at low temperatures and very small Landau level filling factors (ν≃1/5). In dilute GaAs 2D hole systems, on the other hand, thanks to the larger hole effective mass and the ensuing Landau level mixing, the WS forms at relatively higher fillings (ν≃1/3). Here we report our measurements of the fundamental temperature vs filling phase diagram for the 2D holes' WS-liquid thermal melting. Moreover, via changing the 2D hole density, we also probe their Landau level mixing vs filling WS-liquid quantum melting phase diagram. We find our data to be in good agreement with the results of very recent calculations, although intriguing subtleties remain.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.036601
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.036601
M3 - Article
C2 - 32745416
AN - SCOPUS:85089046402
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 125
JO - Physical review letters
JF - Physical review letters
IS - 3
M1 - 036601
ER -