Particle-Hole Symmetry and the Reentrant Integer Quantum Hall Wigner Solid

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a reentrant Wigner solid at specific Landau level fillings in a 2D electron gas, emphasizing the role of particle-hole symmetry in the competition between Wigner solids and fractional quantum Hall states.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of a reentrant integer quantum Hall Wigner solid and demonstrates its development and melting related by particle-hole symmetry.

Findings

Wigner solid observed at ν=1.79 and melting at ν=9/5.

The Wigner solid develops in a range related by particle-hole symmetry.

Highlights particle-hole symmetry as fundamental in Wigner solid behavior.

Abstract

The interplay of strong Coulomb interactions and of topology is currently under intense scrutiny in various condensed matter and atomic systems. One example of this interplay is the phase competition of fractional quantum Hall states and the Wigner solid in the two-dimensional electron gas. Here we report a Wigner solid at $\nu=1.79$ and its melting due to fractional correlations occurring at $\nu=9/5$. This Wigner solid, that we call the reentrant integer quantum Hall Wigner solid, develops in a range of Landau level filling factors that is related by particle-hole symmetry to the so called reentrant Wigner solid. We thus find that the Wigner solid in the GaAs/AlGaAs system straddles the partial filling factor $1/5$ not only at the lowest filling factors, but also near $\nu=9/5$. Our results highlight the particle-hole symmetry as a fundamental symmetry of the extended family of Wigner solids and paint a complex picture of the competition of the Wigner solid with fractional quantum Hall states.