Electron bubbles and the structure of the orbital wave function

Abstract

Stripelike and bubblelike patterns spontaneously form in numerous physical, chemical, and biological systems when competing long-range and short-range interactions banish uniformity. Stripelike and the related nematic morphology are also under intense scrutiny in various strongly correlated electron systems. In contrast, the electronic bubble morphology is rare. Some of the most intriguing electron bubbles develop in the two-dimensional electron gas subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field. However, in contrast to bubbles forming in classical systems such as the Turing activator-inhibitor reaction or Langmuir films, bubbles in electron gases owe their existence to elementary quantum mechanics: They are stabilized as wave functions of individual electrons overlap. Here, we report a rich pattern of multielectron bubble phases in a high Landau level and we conclude that this richness is due to the nodal structure of the orbital component of the electronic wave function.