20.500.12556/RUL-164448 Manipulation of fractionalized charge in the metastable topologically entangled state of a doped Wigner crystal Metastability of many-body quantum states is rare and still poorly understood. An exceptional example is the low-temperature metallic state of the layered dichalcogenide 1T-TaS$_2$ in which electronic order is frozen after external excitation. Here we visualize the microscopic dynamics of injected charges in the metastable state using a multiple-tip scanning tunnelling microscope. We observe non-thermal formation of a metastable network of dislocations interconnected by domain walls, that leads to macroscopic robustness of the state to external thermal perturbations, such as small applied currents. With higher currents, we observe annihilation of dislocations following topological rules, accompanied with a change of macroscopic electrical resistance. Modelling carrier injection into a Wigner crystal reveals the origin of formation of fractionalized, topologically entangled networks, which defines the spatial fabric through which single particle excitations propagate. The possibility of manipulating topological entanglement of such networks suggests the way forward in the search for elusive metastable states in quantum many body systems. topological matter electronic properties electronic materials metastability Wigner crystal true false true Angleški jezik Ni določen Članek v reviji 2024-10-25 11:00:29 2024-10-25 11:00:34 2024-11-22 14:54:22 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2023 0 0 8 str. Vol. 14, art. 8214 2023 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 53 2041-1723 10.1038/s41467-023-43800-3 179193091 s41467-023-43800-3_(1).pdf s41467-023-43800-3_(1).pdf 1 0FD2A9E67A8E1B2AA380A6C3EF5E57C9 6d127f76f5d84358521b3e666e98575c8a1db5b1498277d11c2e5abd53e99de4 a05d24ca-92af-11ef-b232-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=194854 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43800-3 0 4c6cf455-92af-11ef-b232-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=194853 Fakulteta za elektrotehniko Fakulteta za matematiko in fiziko 0 0 0