Visualizing the Impact of Quenched Disorder on 2D Electron Wigner Solids
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arXiv
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| Autori principali: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Natura: | Preprint |
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2025
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| author | Ge, Zhehao Smith, Conor He, Zehao Yang, Yubo Li, Qize Xiang, Ziyu Xiao, Jianghan Zhou, Wenjie Kahn, Salman Erdi, Melike Banerjee, Rounak Taniguchi, Takashi Watanabe, Kenji Tongay, Seth Ariel Morales, Miguel A. Zhang, Shiwei Wang, Feng Crommie, Michael F. |
| author_facet | Ge, Zhehao Smith, Conor He, Zehao Yang, Yubo Li, Qize Xiang, Ziyu Xiao, Jianghan Zhou, Wenjie Kahn, Salman Erdi, Melike Banerjee, Rounak Taniguchi, Takashi Watanabe, Kenji Tongay, Seth Ariel Morales, Miguel A. Zhang, Shiwei Wang, Feng Crommie, Michael F. |
| contents | Electron Wigner solids (WSs)1-12 provide an ideal system for understanding the competing effects of electron-electron and electron-disorder interactions, a central unsolved problem in condensed matter physics. Progress in this topic has been limited by a lack of single-defect-resolved experimental measurements as well as accurate theoretical tools to enable realistic experiment-theory comparison. Here we overcome these limitations by combining atomically-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) with quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulation of disordered 2D electron WSs. STM was used to image the electron density ($n_e$) dependent evolution of electron WSs in gate-tunable bilayer MoSe$_2$ devices with varying long-range ($n_\mathrm{LR}$) and short-range ($n_\mathrm{SR}$) disorder densities. These images were compared to QMC simulations using realistic disorder maps extracted from experiment, thus allowing the roles of different disorder types to be disentangled. We identify two distinct physical regimes for disordered electron WSs that depend on the magnitude of $n_\mathrm{SR}$. For $n_\mathrm{SR} \lesssim n_e$ the WS behavior is dominated by long-range disorder and features extensive mixed solid-liquid phases, a new type of re-entrant melting-crystallization, and prominent Friedel oscillations. In contrast, when $n_\mathrm{SR} \gg n_e$ these features are suppressed and a more robust amorphous WS phase emerges that persists to higher $n_e$, highlighting the importance of short-range disorder in this regime. Our work establishes a new framework for studying disordered quantum solids via a combined experimental-theoretical approach. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_12009 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Visualizing the Impact of Quenched Disorder on 2D Electron Wigner Solids Ge, Zhehao Smith, Conor He, Zehao Yang, Yubo Li, Qize Xiang, Ziyu Xiao, Jianghan Zhou, Wenjie Kahn, Salman Erdi, Melike Banerjee, Rounak Taniguchi, Takashi Watanabe, Kenji Tongay, Seth Ariel Morales, Miguel A. Zhang, Shiwei Wang, Feng Crommie, Michael F. Strongly Correlated Electrons Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics Electron Wigner solids (WSs)1-12 provide an ideal system for understanding the competing effects of electron-electron and electron-disorder interactions, a central unsolved problem in condensed matter physics. Progress in this topic has been limited by a lack of single-defect-resolved experimental measurements as well as accurate theoretical tools to enable realistic experiment-theory comparison. Here we overcome these limitations by combining atomically-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) with quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulation of disordered 2D electron WSs. STM was used to image the electron density ($n_e$) dependent evolution of electron WSs in gate-tunable bilayer MoSe$_2$ devices with varying long-range ($n_\mathrm{LR}$) and short-range ($n_\mathrm{SR}$) disorder densities. These images were compared to QMC simulations using realistic disorder maps extracted from experiment, thus allowing the roles of different disorder types to be disentangled. We identify two distinct physical regimes for disordered electron WSs that depend on the magnitude of $n_\mathrm{SR}$. For $n_\mathrm{SR} \lesssim n_e$ the WS behavior is dominated by long-range disorder and features extensive mixed solid-liquid phases, a new type of re-entrant melting-crystallization, and prominent Friedel oscillations. In contrast, when $n_\mathrm{SR} \gg n_e$ these features are suppressed and a more robust amorphous WS phase emerges that persists to higher $n_e$, highlighting the importance of short-range disorder in this regime. Our work establishes a new framework for studying disordered quantum solids via a combined experimental-theoretical approach. |
| title | Visualizing the Impact of Quenched Disorder on 2D Electron Wigner Solids |
| topic | Strongly Correlated Electrons Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.12009 |