Metal-to-Insulator Transitions in Strongly Correlated Regime

Transport results from measuring ultra-clean two-dimensional systems, containing tunable carrier densities from 7 × 10 8 cm − 2 to ∼ 1 × 10 10 cm − 2 , reveal a strongly correlated liquid up to r s ≈ 40 where a Wigner crystallization is anticipated. A critical behavior is identified in the proximity of the metal-to-insulator transition. The nonlinear DC responses for r s > 40 captures hard pinning modes that likely undergo a first order transition into an intermediate phase in the course of melting.