On dynamical ordering in a 2D electron crystal confined in a narrow channel geometry

Abstract

We present both time-averaged and time-resolved transport measurements of a two-dimensional electron (Wigner) crystal on the surface of superfluid helium confined in a narrow microchannel. We find that the field-current characteristics of the driven crystal obtained by the time-averaged measurements exhibit oscillations and negative differential conductivity. This unusual transport behavior was observed previously by Glasson et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 176802 (2001)] and was attributed to a nonequilibrium transition of the electron system to a novel dynamically ordered phase of current filaments aligned along the channels. Contrarily to this explanation, our time-resolved transport measurements reveal that oscillating field-current characteristics appear due to dynamical decoupling (slipping) and recoupling (sticking) of the uniform electron crystal to the liquid helium substrate. Our result demonstrates that this unusual non-linear transport effect is intrinsic, does not depend on the device geometry, and is associated with the dynamical interaction of Wigner crystal with the surface excitations of the liquid substrate.

arXiv comment7 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Moving crystal phases of a quantum Wigner solid in an ultra-high-quality 2D electron system
• Collective Dynamics and Defect Generation for Wigner Crystal Ratchets
• Noise and Thermal Depinning of Wigner Crystals
• Observation of the Rydberg resonance in surface electrons on superfluid helium confined in a 4-$\mu$m deep channel
• Plasmon Mode Engineering with Electrons on Helium
• Bragg-Cherenkov resonance and polaron-like decoupling of the Wigner solid on superfluid helium