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arXiv · 2610.14426

Transport kinetics in excitonic Mott insulator

W. J. Brunner·Zhiwen Zhou·Luc M. Nguyen·C. A. Lozano·G. Mercado·L. H. Fowler-Gerace·L. V. Butov
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Abstract

Indirect excitons (IXs) in a periodic moiré potential in a van der Waals heterostructure form an experimental platform for exploring Bose-Hubbard physics, including the superfluid state and the Mott insulator state. The realization of these collective states requires low-disorder materials. In particular, the localization due to the Mott insulator must be distinguished from disorder-induced localization. We studied the transport kinetics of IXs in a MoSe$_2$/WSe$_2$ van der Waals heterostructure with an anomalously high IX mobility, consistent with superfluidity. This high-mobility transport demonstrates that disorder-induced localization is negligible. We found a remarkable suppression of this efficient IX transport, directly indicating the Mott insulator. As the IX density increases during the excitation pulse, the IX cloud initially expands and then contracts upon entering the Mott insulator phase. The emergence of IX cloud contraction is accompanied by a peak in the IX spatial distribution at the origin. Our simulations reproduce the observed non-monotonic IX transport kinetics, including the temporal expansion and contraction of the IX cloud, as well as the peak in its spatial distribution.

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W. J. Brunner, Zhiwen Zhou, Luc M. Nguyen, C. A. Lozano, G. Mercado, L. H. Fowler-Gerace, L. V. Butov. 2026-10-10. Transport kinetics in excitonic Mott insulator. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.14426

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