Wigner Crystallization in a Quasi-3D Electronic System

Abstract

When a strong magnetic field is applied perpendicularly (along z) to a sheet confining electrons to two dimensions (x-y), highly correlated states emerge as a result of the interplay between electron-electron interactions, confinement and disorder. These so-called fractional quantum Hall (FQH) liquids form a series of states which ultimately give way to a periodic electron solid that crystallizes at high magnetic fields. This quantum phase of electrons has been identified previously as a disorder-pinned two-dimensional Wigner crystal with broken translational symmetry in the x-y plane. Here, we report our discovery of a new insulating quantum phase of electrons when a very high magnetic field, up to 45T, is applied in a geometry parallel (y-direction) to the two-dimensional electron sheet. Our data point towards this new quantum phase being an electron solid in a "quasi-3D" configuration induced by orbital coupling with the parallel field.

References in corpus (6)

• Parallel magnetic field induced giant magnetoresistance in low density {\it quasi}-two dimensional layers
• Melting of a 2D Quantum Electron Solid in High Magnetic Field
• Fractional Quantum Hall Effect Measurements at Zero g-Factor
• Magnetic Field Induced Insulating Phases at Large $r_s$
• Transition from a fractional quantum Hall liquid to an electron solid at Landau level filling nu = 1/3 in tilted magnetic fields
• The Effect of the Tilted Field in the Fractional Quantum Hall Systems: Numerical Studies for the Solid-liquid Transition

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• Interplay among spin, orbital effects and localization in a GaAs two-dimensional electron gas in a strong in-plane magnetic field
• Energy Gap and Spin Polarization in the 5/2 Fractional Quantum Hall Effect
• Colossal magnetoresistance in an ultra-clean weakly interacting 2D Fermi liquid
• Fermionic versus bosonic behavior of confined Wigner molecules
• Long- and short-range interaction footprints in entanglement entropies of two-particle Wigner molecules in 2D quantum traps
• Low-frequency electromagnetic field in a Wigner crystal
• Phase transition from a composite fermion liquid to a Wigner solid in the lowest Landau level of ZnO