Stick-Slip Motion of the Wigner Solid on Liquid Helium

Phys Rev Lett. 2016 May 20;116(20):206801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.206801. Epub 2016 May 16.

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.