Aug 23, 2016
Synopsis: Tickled by a Wigner Crystal
Posted by Karen Hurst in category: quantum physics
Nice synopsis.
The lattice symmetry of a quantum Wigner crystal is deduced from its effect on quantized states in a nearby sheet of electrons.
Left to their own devices, electrons confined to a sheet can crystallize into an ordered array at low temperatures because of their mutual repulsion. Physicists have observed a classical version of this “Wigner crystal” in electrons floating on liquid helium and a quantum variety in electrons trapped at a semiconductor interface. But the lattice geometry of electrons in the latter has been tough to glean. A team led by Mansour Shayegan at Princeton University, New Jersey, obtained this information using a new technique, possibly providing a way to test the many-body theories that predict Wigner crystallization.