A metal-insulator transition in 2D: Established facts and open questions

Abstract

The discovery of a metallic state and a metal-insulator transition (MIT) in two-dimensional (2D) electron systems challenges one of the most influential paradigms of modern mesoscopic physics, namely, that "there is no true metallic behavior in two dimensions". However, this conclusion was drawn for systems of noninteracting or weakly interacting carriers, while in all 2D systems exhibiting the metal-insulator transition, the interaction energy greatly exceeds all other energy scales. We review the main experimental findings and show that, although significant progress has been achieved in our understanding of the MIT in 2D, many open questions remain.