Manipulation of fractionalized charge in the metastable topologically entangled state of a doped Wigner crystal

Mraz, Anže (author), Diego, Michele (author), Kranjec, Andrej (author), Vodeb, Jaka (author), Karpov, Peter (author), Gerasimenko, Yaroslav (author), Ravnik, Jan (author), Vaskivskyi, Yevhenii (author), Venturini, Rok (author), Kabanov, Viktor V. (author), Lipovšek, Benjamin (author), Topič, Marko (author), Vaskivskyi, Igor (author), Mihailović, Dragan (author)

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.

• Language: English
• Keywords: topological matter, electronic properties, electronic materials, metastability, Wigner crystal
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FE - Faculty of Electrical Engineering; FMF - Faculty of Mathematics and Physics
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: 8 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 14, art. 8214
• UDC: 53
• ISSN on article: 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43800-3
• COBISS.SI-ID: 179193091
• Publication date in RUL: 25.10.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Nature communications
• Shortened title: Nat. commun.
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• COBISS.SI-ID: 2315876

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• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.