University of Basel and TUM researchers reveal Wigner crystal dynamics using light

Researchers from the University of Basel and the Technical University of Munich have developed a new method to observe the internal dynamics of a Wigner crystal using light. A Wigner crystal is an exotic state of matter where electrons, typically mobile, organize into a regular lattice structure due to dominant potential energy at low densities and extreme temperatures.

By cooling a single layer of tungsten diselenide (WSe2) to temperatures near absolute zero (approximately 1.6 K), the team used light as a probe to reveal how electrons move and interact within the crystal. The study, published in ‘Nature Physics’, demonstrates that light can do more than detect the state; it can reveal internal behaviors, including electron spin and responses to external influences.

The research involved a collaboration between experimentalists at Basel and theorists at the Technical University of Munich. The team developed a theory explaining how incident light generates excitons that interact with the electron arrangement, forming hybrid quasiparticles. This breakthrough provides a new tool for exploring various quantum states and interacting particle systems.