Brian Skinner

The Ohio State University

Department of Physics

Title:  Chiral Wigner Crystal Phases Induced by Berry Curvature

Abstract:  In 1934 Eugene Wigner first predicted that a gas of electrons is susceptible to a freezing transition when its density is low enough due to the long-range Coulomb interaction between electrons. This Wigner crystal (WC) state has only very recently been realized and visualized in two dimensional materials without applied magnetic field. Here I discuss new forms of the Wigner crystal state that can arise in materials with Berry curvature. I focus specifically on bilayer graphene, and discuss the phase diagram and the different ordered states of the Wigner crystal.