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Intrinsic Heavy Wigner Crystal Forged by Transferred 4f Electrons

Zhongjie Wang1,*, Rui Song1,*, Yupeng Jiang1, Qidong Sun1, Meng Zhao1, Lifeng Yin1,2,3,4,5,†, Jian Shen1,2,3,4,6,‡, and Chunlei Gao1,2,3,4,6,§

  • 1State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Institute for Nanoelectronic Devices and Quantum Computing, and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
  • 2Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Sciences, Shanghai 201315, China
  • 3Zhangjiang Fudan International Innovation Center, Fudan University, Shanghai 201210, China
  • 4Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing 210093, China
  • 5State Key Laboratory of Integrated Chips and Systems, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
  • 6Hefei National Laboratory, Hefei 230088, China

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: lifengyin@fudan.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: shenj5494@fudan.edu.cn
  • §Contact author: clgao@fudan.edu.cn

Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 266502 – Published 23 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/h96x-9d3y

Abstract

As a quintessential quantum matter, realizing robust Wigner crystals and achieving their angstrom-scale imaging remain formidable challenges. Here, we devise an original charge-transfer-crystallization strategy to realize an intrinsic electron solid made of 4f electrons. The highly localized and correlated nature of 4f electrons gives rise to a heavy Wigner crystal. This unprecedented heaviness manifests as an electron solid with record-high density (2.02×1013/cm−2) and melting temperature (>60  K). Q-plus atomic force microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy are employed to directly image the Wigner crystal, by which the sub-unit-cell localization and electrostatic influence of Wigner electrons are accurately determined. Moreover, the collective tunneling is captured, underlining the quantum nature of a Wigner crystal. Our discovery presents the 4f system as a tunable platform with the charge-transfer degree of freedom to study the 2D many-body correlation of heavy electrons.

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