Evidence for Two Different Solid Phases of Two Dimensional Electrons in High Magnetic Fields

Abstract

We have performed RF spectroscopy on very high quality two dimensional electron systems in the high magnetic field insulating phase, usually associated with a Wigner solid (WS) pinned by disorder. We have found two different resonances in the frequency dependent real diagonal conductivity spectrum and we interpret them as coming from \textit{two} different pinned solid phases (labeled as "WS-A" and "WS-B"). The resonance of WS-A is observable for Landau level filling $ν$$<$2/9 (but absent around the $ν$=1/5 fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE)); it then \textit{crosses over} for $ν$$<$0.18 to the different WS-B resonance which dominates the spectrum at $ν$$<$0.125. Moreover, WS-A resonance is found to show dispersion with respect to the size of transmission line, indicating that WS-A has a large correlation length (exceeding $\sim$100 $μ$m); in contrast no such behavior is found for WS-B. We suggest that quantum correlations such as those responsible for FQHE may play an important role in giving rise to such different solids.

4 pages, 3 figures