Wigner crystal in snaked nanochannels

TL;DR

This paper investigates the phase transition of Wigner crystals in snaked nanochannels, revealing a transition from conducting to insulating states with a devil's staircase structure, relevant for organic conductors and supercapacitors.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of a phase transition with a devil's staircase structure in Wigner crystals within snaked nanochannels, linking it to the Aubry transition and applications in nanomaterials.

Findings

Conducting sliding phase at low charge densities.

Insulating pinned phase above critical charge density.

Devil's staircase structure in phase transition.

Abstract

We study properties of Wigner crystal in snaked nanochannels and show that they are characterized by conducting sliding phase at low charge densities and insulating pinned phase emerging above a certain critical charge density. The transition between these phases has a devil's staircase structure typical for the Aubry transition in dynamical maps and the Frenkel-Kontorova model. We discuss implications of this phenomenon for charge density waves in quasi-one-dimensional organic conductors and for supercapacitors in nanopore materials.