Glassy dynamics of electrons near the metal-insulator transition

TL;DR

This review discusses evidence for a metal-insulator transition in 2D electron systems, highlighting glassy electron freezing at low temperatures and suggesting potential universality of these dynamics across different dimensions.

Contribution

It synthesizes experimental evidence linking glassy electron behavior to the metal-insulator transition in two-dimensional systems, proposing a universal aspect of correlated electron dynamics.

Findings

Evidence of MIT in 2D electron systems regardless of disorder

Glassy freezing of electrons as temperature approaches zero

Potential universality of glassy dynamics in MIT across dimensions

Abstract

This review first describes the evidence that strongly suggests the existence of the metal-insulator transition (MIT) in a two-dimensional electron system in Si regardless of the amount of disorder. Extensive studies of the charge dynamics demonstrate that this transition is closely related to the glassy freezing of electrons as temperature T->0. Similarities to the behavior of three-dimensional materials raise the intriguing possibility that such correlated dynamics might be a universal feature of the MIT regardless of the dimensionality.