TOPOLOGICAL DEFECTS, ORIENTATIONAL ORDER, AND DEPINNING OF THE ELECTRON-SOLID IN A RANDOM POTENTIAL

Abstract

We report on the results of molecular-dynamics simulation studies of the classical two-dimensional electron crystal in the presence of disorder. Our study is motivated by recent experiments on this system in modulation-doped semiconductor systems in very strong magnetic fields, where the magnetic length is much smaller than the average interelectron spacing a0, as well as by recent studies of electrons on the surface of helium. We investigate the low-temperature state of this system using a simulated-annealing method. We find that the low-temperature state of the system always has isolated dislocations, even at the weakest disorder levels investigated. We also find evidence for a transition from a hexatic glass to an isotropic glass as the disorder is increased. The former is characterized by quasi-long-range orientational order, and the absence of disclination defects in the low-temperature state, and the latter by short-range orientational order and the presence of these defects. The threshold electric field is also studied as a function of the disorder strength, and is shown to have a characteristic signature of the transition. Finally, the qualitative behavior of the electron flow in the depinned state is shown to change continuously from an elastic flow to a channel-like, plastic flow as the disorder strength is increased. © 1994 The American Physical Society.