Home▸Quantum Physics▸Wigner Crystallization of a 2D Electron Gas

❄️ Wigner Crystallization of a 2D Electron Gas

Watch a low-density two-dimensional electron gas freeze from a disordered liquid into an ordered triangular Wigner crystal as Coulomb repulsion overtakes kinetic energy.

Quantum Physics3DModerate60 FPS💧 Water ❄️ Ice & Cold

The simulation shows a 2D electron gas transitioning from a disordered, liquid-like arrangement to an ordered triangular Wigner crystal lattice as electron density is lowered and Coulomb repulsion begins to dominate over kinetic energy.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Lower the density slider (increasing the r_s parameter) to watch electrons freeze into a triangular lattice, or raise it to melt the crystal back into a correlated liquid.

💡 Did You Know?

Eugene Wigner predicted this electron crystallization in 1934, decades before clean enough experimental systems existed to observe it, and scanning tunneling microscopy only directly imaged individual electrons in a Wigner-crystal arrangement within the last several years using moire superlattice materials.

⚙ Under the hood

Watch a low-density two-dimensional electron gas freeze from a disordered liquid into an ordered triangular Wigner crystal as Coulomb repulsion overtakes kinetic energy.

wigner crystalelectron gascoulomb interactioncondensed matterquantum phase transitionelectron correlation2d materialsstrongly correlated electrons

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install