Coexistence, Interfacial Energy, and the Fate of Microemulsions of 2D Dipolar Bosons

The superfluid-crystal quantum phase transition of a system of purely repulsive dipolar bosons in two dimensions is studied by quantum Monte Carlo simulations at zero temperature. We determine freezing and melting densities and estimate the energy per unit length of a macroscopic interface separating the two phases. The results rule out the microemulsion scenario for any physical realization of this system, given the exceedingly large predicted size of the bubbles.