Structural Order and Melting of a Quasi-One-Dimensional Electron System

TL;DR

This study explores how confinement affects the order and melting behavior of a quasi-one-dimensional electron system on liquid helium, revealing a reentrant phase transition influenced by electron density and confinement strength.

Contribution

It demonstrates the dependence of Wigner solid melting on confinement and density, and shows reentrant phase transitions with experimental and simulation evidence.

Findings

Melting depends on confinement strength, electron density, and temperature.

Reentrant solid-liquid-solid transition observed with increasing electron density.

Order modulation occurs with changing electron row number, confirmed by Monte Carlo simulations.

Abstract

We investigate the influence of confinement on the positional order of a quasi-1D electron system trapped on the surface of liquid helium. We find evidence that the melting of the Wigner solid (WS) depends on the confinement strength, as well as electron density and temperature. A reentrant solid-liquid-solid transition is observed for increasing electron density under constant electrostatic confinement. As the electron row number $N_y$ changes, varying commensurability results in a modulation of the WS order, even when $N_y$ is large (several tens). This is confirmed by Monte Carlo simulations.