Electron Bubbles and the Structure of the Orbital Wavefunction

Abstract

Stripe-like and bubble-like patterns spontaneously form in numerous physical, chemical, and biological systems when competing long-range and short-range interactions banish uniformity. Stripe-like and the related nematic morphology are also under intense scrutiny in various strongly correlated electron systems. In contrast, the electronic bubble morphology is rare. Some of the most intriguing electron bubbles develop in the two-dimensional electron gas subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field. However, in contrast to bubbles forming in classical systems such as the Turing activator-inhibitor reaction or Langmuir films, bubbles in electron gases owe their existence to elementary quantum mechanics: they are stabilized as wavefunctions of individual electrons overlap. Here we report a rich pattern of multi-electron bubble phases in a high Landau level and we conclude that this richness is due to the nodal structure of the orbital component of the electronic wavefunction.

References in corpus (5)

• Microwave Resonance of 2D Wigner Crystal around integer Landau fillings
• Competition between quantum-liquid and electron-solid phases in intermediate Landau levels
• NMR profiling of quantum electron solids in high magnetic fields
• De-Pinning Transition of Bubble Phases in a High Landau Level
• Acoustic Measurements of the Stripe and the Bubble Quantum Hall Phases