Disorder-induced liquid-solid phase coexistence in 2D electron systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Joy, Sandeep, Skinner, Brian
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Joy, Sandeep
Skinner, Brian
author_facet Joy, Sandeep
Skinner, Brian
contents Recent imaging experiments show a surprisingly robust regime of liquid-solid phase coexistence in a 2D electron system near the quantum melting/freezing transition, with the two phases mixed in mesoscopic domains. Strikingly, the experiments find no noticeable difference in electron density between the liquid and solid domains, which is at odds with both microemulsion scenarios and scenarios in which phase coexistence is driven by fluctuations of a long-ranged disorder potential. Here, we show that such phase coexistence without density difference can be induced by random fluctuations of a short-ranged disorder potential. We further show that disorder tends to stabilize the Wigner Crystal phase to higher densities, which is also consistent with the experiments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_11235
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Disorder-induced liquid-solid phase coexistence in 2D electron systems
Joy, Sandeep
Skinner, Brian
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Recent imaging experiments show a surprisingly robust regime of liquid-solid phase coexistence in a 2D electron system near the quantum melting/freezing transition, with the two phases mixed in mesoscopic domains. Strikingly, the experiments find no noticeable difference in electron density between the liquid and solid domains, which is at odds with both microemulsion scenarios and scenarios in which phase coexistence is driven by fluctuations of a long-ranged disorder potential. Here, we show that such phase coexistence without density difference can be induced by random fluctuations of a short-ranged disorder potential. We further show that disorder tends to stabilize the Wigner Crystal phase to higher densities, which is also consistent with the experiments.
title Disorder-induced liquid-solid phase coexistence in 2D electron systems
topic Strongly Correlated Electrons
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.11235