Phase separation in the two-dimensional electron liquid in MOSFETs

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that in two-dimensional MOSFETs, an intermediate phase exists between Fermi liquid and Wigner crystal states, characterized by partial phase separation, which explains certain experimental transport phenomena.

Contribution

It reveals the generic presence of an intermediate phase due to partial phase separation in 2D electron liquids in MOSFETs at zero temperature.

Findings

Existence of an intermediate phase between Fermi liquid and Wigner crystal.

Partial phase separation explains experimental transport properties.

Possible identification of a supersolid phase in certain parameter ranges.

Abstract

We show that the existence of an intermediate phase between the Fermi liquid and the Wigner crystal phases is a generic property of the two-dimensional pure electron liqd in MOSFET's at zero temperature. The physical reason for the existence of these phases is a partial separation of the uniform phases. We discuss properties of these phases and a possible explanation of experimental results on transport properties of low density electron gas in Si MOSFET's. We also argue that in certain range of parameters the partial phase separation corresponds to a supersolid phas e discussed in [AndreevLifshitz].