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Stick-Slip Motion of the Wigner Solid on Liquid Helium

David G. Rees, Niyaz R. Beysengulov, Juhn-Jong Lin, and Kimitoshi Kono
Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 206801 – Published 16 May 2016
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Abstract

We present time-resolved transport measurements of a Wigner solid (WS) on the surface of liquid helium confined in a micron-scale channel. At rest, the WS is “dressed” by a cloud of quantized capillary waves (ripplons). Under a driving force, we find that repeated WS-ripplon decoupling leads to stick-slip current oscillations, the frequency of which can be tuned by adjusting the temperature, pressing electric field, or electron density. The WS on liquid He is a promising system for the study of polaronlike decoupling dynamics.

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  • Received 28 October 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.206801

© 2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

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Stick-Slip Motion in a Quantum Field

Published 16 May 2016

An electron crystal sliding on liquid helium exhibits a qualitatively new type of stick-slip motion, resulting from the coupling of the electrons to a quantum field.

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Authors & Affiliations

David G. Rees1,2,*, Niyaz R. Beysengulov2,3, Juhn-Jong Lin1,2,4, and Kimitoshi Kono1,2,3

  • 1NCTU-RIKEN Joint Research Laboratory, Institute of Physics, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
  • 2RIKEN CEMS, Wako 351-0198, Japan
  • 3KFU-RIKEN Joint Research Laboratory, Institute of Physics, Kazan Federal University, Kazan 420008, Russia
  • 4Department of Electrophysics, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan

  • *drees@nctu.edu.tw

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Issue

Vol. 116, Iss. 20 — 20 May 2016

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