Evidence for a Superfluid-to-solid Transition of Bilayer Excitons

Abstract: The low-temperature phase diagram of a Bosonic system is predicted to contain an exotic quantum phase, called a supersolid, that is defined by broken translational symmetry and off-diagonal long-range order. This unique combination of properties enables a seemingly paradoxical scenario where a bosonic solid exhibits dissipationless mass flow. However, despite decades of extensive efforts, experimental realization of such a supersolid phase remains elusive. In this work we report experimental observation of a superfluid-to-insulating transition in the bosonic system of spatially indirect excitons in double layer graphene. Utilizing a variety of transport methods to characterize the superfluid-insulator phase boundary as a function of both density and temperature suggests the insulator to be a solid phase driven by repulsive dipole-dipole interactions in the dilute limit. The exciton solid exhibits a unique melting transition, with the high-temperature phase recovering a hallmark transport signature of off-diagonal long-range order, perfect Coulomb drag. The reentrant superfluid-like behaviour could indicate the low temperature solid also corresponds to a quantum coherent phase.