Ballistic-hydrodynamic phase transition in Poiseuille flow of two-dimensional electrons.

Phase transitions are characterized by a pronounced change in the type of dynamics of microparticles or of the ordering. A description of phase transitions usually requires quantum statistics. Recently, a peculiar type of conductors was discovered in which two-dimensional (2D) electrons form a viscous fluid. Here we report a novel type of phase transitions in such systems between the ballistic and the hydrodynamic states of classical 2D electrons in external magnetic fields. We trace an abrupt emergence of a fluid phase of interacting hydrodynamic electrons from a "dust" of ballistic electrons with an increase of magnetic field. This transition manifests itself in a kink in the dependence of the longitudinal and the Hall resistances on magnetic field, reflecting the switching of the type of the particle dynamics below and above the critical magnetic field. Apparently, such transition was observed in the recent experiments on 2D electron hydrodynamics in graphene and high-mobility GaAs quantum wells. The obtained results reveal the mechanism of a formation of a thermodynamic fluid phase from individual ballistic particles in high-quality samples.