Electronic crystal growth

Abstract

Ordering and disordering electrons When a liquid is cooled rapidly, it can form a glass, a state stuck between liquid and solid. Two groups looked in detail into analogous dynamics in electronic systems. Sato et al. and Sasaki et al. studied layered organic materials with a triangular in-plane lattice. These materials can assume a state in which their charge distribution has a regular pattern—an electronic or charge crystal. When the materials were cooled rapidly, a charge glass was formed instead and then allowed to crystallize. The dynamics of crystallization showed similarities to the analogous processes in conventional glasses. Science , this issue p. 1378 , p. 1381