Pair-correlation functions and density-modulated states in electron–hole bilayer: thermal and mass-asymmetry effects

We have studied the effect of temperature and electron–hole mass-asymmetry on pair-correlation functions (PCFs) of a coupled electron–hole bilayer, treating correlations dynamically using the dynamical self-consistent mean-field approach of Singwi, Tosi, Land, and Sjölander. Taking a fixed electron–hole effective mass ratio $$m_h^*/m_e^*=5$$ m h ∗ / m e ∗ = 5 , both intra- and interlayer static PCFs are calculated for their dependence on carrier density $$r_{se}$$ r se , temperature $$\tau _e$$ τ e , and interlayer spacing d. Besides, the static wavevector-dependent density susceptibility is obtained to probe the role of these effects on the hitherto existence of density-modulated phases in the bilayer. We find that thermal effects in overall make correlations weaker, but the mass-asymmetry results in stronger correlations both within and across the layers, with the effect being most pronounced in the holes layer. In the strong coupling regime (i.e., large $$r_{se}/\tau _e d$$ r se / τ e d ), the intra- and interlayer PCFs show pronounced in-phase periodic oscillations, typical of a spatially localized phase in the bilayer. Correspondingly, the in-phase component of static density susceptibility is seen to exhibit in the close approach of two layers an apparently diverging peak at a wavevector coincident with the location of sharp peak in the static structure factor, implying the emergence of a density-modulated phase in the bilayer. Parallel to the zero-temperature study, the charge-density-wave (CDW) phase is found to dominate at higher densities, with a cross-over to the Wigner crystal (WC) phase below a critical density. As an interesting result, we find that while thermal effects tend to oppose the formation of density-modulated phase, the electron–hole mass-asymmetry boosted correlations favour it, with the two effects almost cancelling out at $$\tau _e=0.125$$ τ e = 0.125 , thus resulting in the CDW-WC cross-over at nearly the same critical density as for a zero-temperature mass-symmetric electron–hole bilayer. Our prediction of coupled WC phase is found to be in qualitative agreement with path-integral Monte Carlo simulations. Graphic abstract