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Using Microwave and Macroscopic Samples of Dielectric Solids to Study the Photonic Properties of Disordered Photonic Bandgap Materials
Published on: September 26, 2014
Disorder induced transition into a one-dimensional wigner glass
Shimul Akhanjee1, Joseph Rudnick
1Department of Physics, UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095-1547, USA. shimul@physics.ucla.edu
Physical Review Letters
|February 1, 2008
Summary
Strong disorder in one-dimensional Wigner crystals destroys crystalline order, localizing plasma modes and causing glasslike behavior. A critical disorder strength marks a transition, observable in ac conductivity.
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Plasma Physics
- Materials Science
Background:
- One-dimensional (1D) Wigner crystals exhibit unique properties due to strong electron-electron interactions and reduced dimensionality.
- Disorder effects are crucial in determining the stability and behavior of these crystalline structures.
- Understanding the interplay between disorder and collective excitations (plasmons) is key to characterizing phase transitions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of strong disorder on the crystalline order and plasma modes of 1D Wigner crystals at zero temperature (T=0).
- To construct a phase diagram correlating structural properties with plasmon delocalization.
- To identify the transition between localized and critical phases and its experimental signatures.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of classical plasma modes in 1D Wigner crystals under strong disorder.
- Construction of a phase diagram based on disorder strength and plasmon behavior.
- Investigation of system behavior in localized and critical phases, including glasslike properties.
Main Results:
- Strong disorder leads to the destruction of quasi-long-range crystalline order and strict localization of all classical plasma modes at T=0.
- A phase diagram reveals a transition from a strictly localized phase (with glasslike behavior) to a critical phase with a plasmon mobility edge.
- The system retains crystalline composition in the critical phase, with a transition occurring at a critical disorder strength.
Conclusions:
- Disorder-induced localization of plasma modes fundamentally alters the behavior of 1D Wigner crystals.
- A distinct phase transition exists, separating glasslike behavior from a crystalline state with delocalized plasmons.
- The transition is experimentally detectable via a local maximum in the ac conductivity's largest spectral amplitude.
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