Imaging quantum melting in a disordered 2D Wigner solid

Two-dimensional strongly interacting electrons crystalize into a solid phase known as the Wigner crystal at low densities and form a Fermi liquid at high densities. At intermediate densities, the two-dimensional solid evolves into a strongly correlated liquid phase around a critical density. We observed this quantum melting of a disordered Wigner solid in bilayer molybdenum diselenide (MoSe<sub>2</sub>) using a noninvasive scanning tunneling microscopy imaging technique. At low densities, the Wigner solid forms nanocrystalline domains pinned by local disorder. It exhibits a quantum densification behavior with increased densities in the solid phase. Above a threshold density, the Wigner solid melts locally and enters a mixed phase in which solid and liquid regions coexist. The liquid regions expand and form a percolation network at even higher densities.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science
Published
2025-05-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado7136
Citations
7
Primary Topic
Quantum and electron transport phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
8.73
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article

Imaging quantum melting in a disordered 2D Wigner solid

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7 citations
Science
Quantum and electron transport phenomena
8.73
article

Imaging quantum melting in a disordered 2D Wigner solid

Rounak Banerjee, Hongyuan Li, Sefaattin Tongay, Michael F. Crommie, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Steven G. Louie, Mit H. Naik, Zehao He, Su-Di Chen, Feng Wang, Ziyu Xiang, Yi‐Fan Jiang, Zhehao Ge, Renee Sailus, Shiyu Li, Jiahui Nie, Jianghan Xiao
article en
7 citations

Abstract

Two-dimensional strongly interacting electrons crystalize into a solid phase known as the Wigner crystal at low densities and form a Fermi liquid at high densities. At intermediate densities, the two-dimensional solid evolves into a strongly correlated liquid phase around a critical density. We observed this quantum melting of a disordered Wigner solid in bilayer molybdenum diselenide (MoSe<sub>2</sub>) using a noninvasive scanning tunneling microscopy imaging technique. At low densities, the Wigner solid forms nanocrystalline domains pinned by local disorder. It exhibits a quantum densification behavior with increased densities in the solid phase. Above a threshold density, the Wigner solid melts locally and enters a mixed phase in which solid and liquid regions coexist. The liquid regions expand and form a percolation network at even higher densities.

ScienceVol. 388(6748)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US), National Institute for Materials Science (JP), Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute (US), Arizona State University (US), University of California, Berkeley (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Quantum and electron transport phenomena
8.73
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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