2014/01/22 by Wolfgang Lechner, Hans Peter Büchler, Hans-Peter Büchler +2
Physics and Astronomy · #Chemical polarity #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Condensed matter physics #Phase (matter) #Phase transition #Physics #Polar #Quantum #Quantum fluctuation #Quantum mechanics #Quantum phase transition #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Scaling #Superfluidity #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.quant-gas #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.112.255301
arxiv created 2014/01/22 · openalex publication_date 2014/06/25 · arxiv updated 2014/07/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Two-dimensional crystals melt via an intermediate hexatic phase, which is characterized by an anomalous scaling of spatial and orientational correlation functions and the absence of an attraction between dislocations. We propose a protocol to study the effect of quantum fluctuations on the nature of this phase with a model system of strongly correlated ultracold polar molecules. Dislocations can be located in experiment from local energy differences which induce internal stark shifts in the molecules. We present a criterion to identify the hexatic phase from the statistics of the end points of topological defect strings and find a hexatic phase, which is dominated by quantum fluctuations, between the crystal and superfluid phases.