Melting of electronic/excitonic crystals in 2D semiconductor moirépatterns:A perspective from the Lindemann criterion

Using the Lindemann criterion,we analyzed the quantum and thermal melting of electronic/excitonic crystals recently discovered in two-dimensional(2D)semiconductor moirépatterns.We show that the finite 2D screening of the atomically thin material can suppress(enhance)the inter-site Coulomb(dipolar)interaction strength,thus inhibits(facilitates)the formation of the electronic(excitonic)crystal.Meanwhile,a strong enough moiréconfinement is found to be essential for realizing the crystal phase with a wavelength near 10 nm or shorter.From the calculated Lindemann ratio which quantifies the fluctuation of the site displacement,we estimate that the crystal will melt into a liquid above a critical temperature ranging from several tens Kelvin to above 100 K(depending on the system parameters).