Electronic crystals: an experimental overview

TL;DR

This paper provides an experimental overview of electronic crystals, focusing on their static and dynamic properties, collective effects, and behaviors in various low-dimensional materials, including charge and spin density waves.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive review of experimental findings on electronic superstructures, emphasizing collective effects, low-temperature properties, and field-induced phenomena in diverse materials.

Findings

Charge density waves exhibit complex pinning and sliding behaviors.

Low-temperature glassy properties are significant in electronic crystals.

Field-induced charge density waves are observed under magnetic fields.

Abstract

This article reviews the static and dynamic properties of spontaneous superstructures formed by electrons. Representations of such electronic crystals are charge density waves and spin density waves in inorganic as well as organic low dimensional materials. A special attention is paid to the collective effects in pinning and sliding of these superstructures, and the glassy properties at low temperature. Charge order and charge disproportionation which occur in organic materials resulting from correlation effects are analysed. Experiments under magnetic field, and more specifically field-induced charge density waves are discussed. Properties of meso- and nanostructures of charge density waves are also reviewed.