Ordered structure formation in 2D mass asymmetric electron–hole plasmas

We study strong Coulomb correlations in dense two-dimensional electron–hole plasmas by means of direct path integral Monte Carlo simulations. In particular, the formation and dissociation of bound states, such as excitons, bi-excitons and many particle clusters, is analyzed and the density-temperature regions of their occurrence are identified. At high density, the Mott transition to the fully ionized state (electron–hole hexatic liquid) is detected. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the hole to electron mass ratio M on the properties of the plasma. For high enough values of M we observed the formation of Coulomb hole crystal-like structures.