Dynamic Response of Wigner Crystals

Abstract

The Wigner crystal, an ordered array of electrons, is one of the very first proposed many-body phases stabilized by the electron-electron interaction. This electron solid phase has been reported in ultra-clean two-dimensional electron systems at extremely low temperatures, where the Coulomb interaction dominants over the kinetic energy, disorder potential and thermal fluctuation. We closely examine this quantum phase with capacitance measurements where the device length-scale is comparable with the crystal's correlation length. The extraordinarily high performance of our technique makes it possible to quantitatively study the dynamic response of the Wigner crystal within the single crystal regime. Our result will greatly boost the study of this inscrutable electron solid.