Bistable Transport Properties of a Quasi-One-Dimensional Wigner Solid on Liquid Helium under Continuous Driving

Abstract

We investigate low-frequency fluctuations in the transport characteristics of a quasi-1D Wigner solid (WS) moving along a liquid helium substrate in response to a sinusoidal driving voltage. The fluctuations occur between distinct transport modes in which the decoupling of the WS from ripplonic polarons (or 'dimple lattice', DL) formed on the helium surface does, or does not, occur during each ac cycle. We demonstrate that a Gaussian-like distribution in the decoupling threshold force gives rise to this bistability, as the low-frequency switching occurs when the probability of decoupling during each ac cycle is small but finite. We attribute the distribution in the decoupling threshold force to the range of structural configurations allowed for the quasi-1D electron lattice, which influences the strength of the WS-DL coupling. Hence, the switching rate between the ac transport modes is extremely sensitive to the microscopic properties of the electron solid.

References in corpus (8)

• Generic properties of a quasi-one dimensional classical Wigner crystal
• Critical exponents in metastable decay via quantum activation
• Stick-Slip Motion of the Wigner Solid on Liquid Helium
• Extremely efficient clocked electron transfer on superfluid helium
• Diffusion-induced bistability of driven nanomechanical resonators
• Structural Order and Melting of a Quasi-One-Dimensional Electron System
• Probing nanocrystalline grain dynamics in nanodevices
• Formation of defects in multirow Wigner crystals

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Thermoelectricity of cold ions in optical lattices
• Wigner crystal diode
• Collective Dynamics and Defect Generation for Wigner Crystal Ratchets
• Mobility of a spatially modulated electron liquid on the helium surface
• Properties of phonon modes of ion trap quantum computer in the Aubry phase
• Thermoelectric properties of Wigner crystal in two-dimensional periodic potential