Imaging a Wigner crystal under external drive: Part I
Oral-In-person
Abstract
Electrons in a partially filled Landau level can spontaneously organize into a Wigner crystal—a triangular lattice of localized wave packets that minimizes their mutual Coulomb repulsion [1]. Evidence for such a phase is typically inferred from transport measurements, where vanishing DC conductivity is observed to persist up to a critical in-plane electric field, beyond which the disorder-pinned crystal is thought to collectively slide [2]. Recent advances in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy have enabled direct imaging of these electron crystals [3]. But the depinning transition itself has not been visualized.
In the first of two talks, I will discuss our efforts to connect local signatures of Wigner crystallization with global transport measurements performed on a graphene device in a high magnetic field, millikelvin STM. By combining these complementary probes, we can image how the local quasiparticle density responds to an applied source–drain bias.
[1] Phys. Rev. 46, 1002–1011 (1934)
[2] Phys. Rev. Lett. 65, 2189 (1990)
[3] Nature 628, 287–292 (2024)
In the first of two talks, I will discuss our efforts to connect local signatures of Wigner crystallization with global transport measurements performed on a graphene device in a high magnetic field, millikelvin STM. By combining these complementary probes, we can image how the local quasiparticle density responds to an applied source–drain bias.
[1] Phys. Rev. 46, 1002–1011 (1934)
[2] Phys. Rev. Lett. 65, 2189 (1990)
[3] Nature 628, 287–292 (2024)
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Presenters
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Haonan Huang
- Princeton University