High-frequency nonlinear conductivity of a Wigner crystal

Abstract

Electrons trapped above the surface of superfluid helium are a disorder-free platform for investigating the formation and dynamics of low-dimensional Wigner crystals. A characteristic nonlinear transport feature of this electronic solid suspended above the helium surface is the Bragg-Cherenkov effect, in which the mobility of the smoothly moving crystal is limited by the coherent emission of helium surface waves (ripplons). The effect has been understood in the conventional Cherenkov setting in which the crystal moves at a constant speed. Here we report on transport measurements of electrons on helium confined in a microchannel geometry to investigate the non-equilibrium response of the Wigner solid when it is subjected to a high-frequency driving field. Surprisingly, the experiments reveal a strongly nonlinear transport response of the confined Wigner solid at frequencies nearly an order of magnitude larger than the ripplon frequencies contributing to the conventional Bragg-Cherenkov effect. We relate this observation to the coupling of the Wigner solid to ripplons with higher-order Bragg vectors, which gives rise to a dynamical friction that provides a mechanism for the observed high-frequency pinning.