Phase diagram of bilayer electron-hole plasmas

TL;DR

This paper uses first-principles Monte Carlo simulations to map out the phase diagram of 2D electron-hole bilayers, revealing various phases like exciton gases, crystals, and electron-hole liquids based on system parameters.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive phase diagram of bilayer electron-hole systems considering quantum and Coulomb effects through unbiased simulations, a novel approach in this context.

Findings

Identification of multiple phases including exciton gas, crystal, and electron-hole liquid.

Dependence of phases on layer separation, density, and mass ratio.

First-principles simulation approach capturing quantum correlations.

Abstract

We investigate exciton bound-state formation and crystallization effects in two-dimensional electron-hole bilayers. Performing unbiased path integral Monte Carlo simulations all quantum and Coulomb correlation effects are treated on first principles. We analyze diverse pair distribution functions in dependence on the layer separation, particle density and hole-to-electron mass ratio and derive a schematic phase diagram for the neutral mass-asymmetric bilayer system. Our simulations reveal a great variety of possible phases namely an exciton gas, an exciton crystal, an electron-hole liquid and a hole crystal embedded in an electron gas.