Disorder induced transition into a one-dimensional Wigner glass

TL;DR

This paper investigates how strong disorder causes a transition in one-dimensional Wigner crystals from a crystalline phase to a glass-like phase, characterized by localization of plasma modes and observable through AC conductivity measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a phase diagram linking structural properties to plasmon localization and predicts a disorder-driven transition with experimental signatures.

Findings

Localization of plasma modes at strong disorder

Existence of a critical disorder strength for phase transition

Glass-like behavior deep inside the localized phase

Abstract

The destruction of quasi-long range crystalline order as a consequence of strong disorder effects is shown to accompany the strict localization of all classical plasma modes of one-dimensional Wigner crystals at T=0. We construct a phase diagram that relates the structural phase properties of Wigner crystals to a plasmon delocalization transition recently reported. Deep inside the strictly localized phase of the strong disorder regime, we observe ``glass-like'' behavior. However, well into the critical phase with a plasmon mobility edge, the system retains its crystalline composition. We predict that a transition between the two phases occurs at a critical value of the relative disorder strength. This transition has an experimental signature in the AC conductivity as a local maximum of the largest spectral amplitude as a function of the relative disorder strength.