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arXiv:cond-mat/0406600 · Physical Review Letters

Hybrid Phase at the Quantum Melting of the Wigner Crystal

Houman Falakshahi, Xavier Waintal

Published Jan 31, 2005• 42 citations
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Abstract

We study the quantum melting of the two-dimensional Wigner crystal using a fixed node quantum Monte Carlo approach. In addition to the two already known phases (Fermi liquid at large density and Wigner crystal at low density), we find a third stable phase at intermediate values of the density. The third phase has hybrid behaviors in between a liquid and a solid. This hybrid phase has the nodal structure of a Slater determinant constructed out of the bands of a triangular lattice.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.94.046801

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We study the quantum melting of the two-dimensional Wigner crystal using a fixed node quantum Monte Carlo approach. In addition to the two already known phases (Fermi liquid at large density and Wigner crystal at low density), we find a third stable phase at intermediate values of the density. The third phase has hybrid behaviors in between a liquid and a solid. This hybrid phase has the nodal structure of a Slater determinant constructed out of the bands of a triangular lattice.
The Fermi liquid-Wigner crystal transition in a two-dimensional electronic system is revisited with a focus on the nature of the fixed node approximation done in quantum Monte Carlo calculations. Recently, we proposed [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 046801 (2005)] that for intermediate densities, a hybrid phase (with the symmetry of the crystal but otherwise liquidlike properties) is more stable than both the liquid and the crystal phase. Here we confirm this result both in the thermodynamic and continuum limit. The liquid-hybrid transition takes place at ${r}_{s}^{*}=31.5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.5$. We find that the stability of the hybrid phase with respect to the crystal one is tightly linked to its delocalized nature. We discuss the implications of our results for various transition scenarios (quantum hexatic phase, supersolid, multiple exchange, and microemulsions) as proposed in the literature.
For intermediate values of the Coulomb energy to Fermi energy ratio rsr_srs​, the ground state of a few spinless fermions confined on a two dimensional torus is the quantum superposition of a floppy Wigner molecule with delocalized vacancies and of a Fermi liquid of intersticial particles. This raises the question of the existence of an unnoticed liquid-solid phase between the Fermi liquid and the Wigner crystal for fermionic systems in two dimensions.
We generalize a path integral Monte Carlo formula to investigate the phase boundary between the fractional quantum Hall liquid and the Wigner crystal for a two-dimensional electron (fermion) system in the presence of strong magnetic fields and at low temperatures. At very low temperature, the state of the system is found to be a solid at filling factors $\ensuremath{\nu}=1∕7$, 1∕91∕91∕9, and 1∕111∕111∕11, while the state remains liquidlike at $\ensuremath{\nu}=1∕3$ and 1∕51∕51∕5. The temperature-density phase diagrams are obtained at low filling factors. At $\ensuremath{\nu}=1∕7$ and a fixed electron density, the calculated melting temperature is $\ensuremath{\sim}220\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mK}$, in good agreement with some experimental results. The nature of the phase transition is suggested to be continuous.
We use quantum Monte Carlo methods to calculate the zero-temperature phase diagram of the two-dimensional homogeneous electron gas. We find a transition from a paramagnetic fluid to an antiferromagnetic triangular Wigner crystal at density parameter r(s)=31(1) a.u. and a transition to a ferromagnetic crystal at r(s)=38(5) a.u. The fully spin-polarized fluid is never stable. We search for, but do not find, the ferromagnetic "hybrid" phase proposed by H. Falakshahi and X. Waintal [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 046801 (2005)10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.046801].
Accurate diffusion Monte Carlo technique within the fixed-node approximation has been used to determine the equation of state of the two-dimensional electron gas in three phases: the normal paramagnetic liquid, the ferromagnetic (spin-polarized) liquid, and the Wigner crystal. Our backflow fixed-node calculation, which is a significant improvement over two previous conflicting Slater-Jastrow calculations, shows that there is only one clear phase transition from the paramagnetic liquid to the Wigner crystal as the density decreases. Unlike the three-dimensional case, we do not see the stability of the polarized liquid phase at intermediate densities before the crystallization.