Transport in Two Dimensional Electronic Micro-emulsions

TL;DR

This paper explores the transport properties of microemulsion phases in two-dimensional electron systems, explaining anomalies observed in experiments due to meso-scale mixtures of liquid and crystalline states.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of microemulsion phases in 2D electron systems and analyzes their role in transport anomalies, a novel perspective in strongly correlated electron physics.

Findings

Microemulsion phases exist between liquid and crystalline states.

Transport anomalies are linked to these meso-scale mixed phases.

The study provides a theoretical framework for experimental observations.

Abstract

In two dimensional electron systems with Coulomb or dipolar interactions, a direct transition, whether first or second order, from a liquid to a crystalline state is forbidden. As a result, between these phases there must be other (microemulsion) phases which can be viewed as a meso-scale mixture of the liquid and crystalline phases. We investigate the transport properties of these new electronic phases and present arguments that they are responsible for the various transport anomalies that have been seen in experiments on the strongly correlated 2DEG in high mobility semiconductor devices with low electron densities.