Macroscopic 2D Wigner islands

• Published in: Europhysics letters Vol. 55; no. 1; pp. 45 - 51
• Main Authors: Jean, M. Saint, Even, C, Guthmann, C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Les Ulis IOP Publishing 01.07.2001; EDP Sciences; EDP sciences
• Subjects: 68.65.-k; 73.21.-b; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Electron states and collective excitations in multilayers, quantum wells, mesoscopic, and nanoscale systems; Electron states and collective excitations in thin films, multilayers, quantum wells, mesoscopic and nanoscale systems; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Low-dimensional structures (superlattices, quantum well structures, multilayers): structure, and nonelectronic properties; Physics; Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties); Theoretical study; Confinement; Interaction potentials; Mesoscopic systems; Wigner crystals; Island structure
• ISSN: 0295-5075; 1286-4854
• DOI: 10.1209/epl/i2001-00379-x

In this paper we present new versatile "2D macroscopic Wigner islands" useful to investigate the various behaviors observed in mesoscopic confined systems. Our "Wigner islands" consist of electrostatically interacting charged balls with millimeter size. We have experimentally determined the ground configurations for systems of N confined particles (N=1-30) and checked the influence of the confinement and interacting potentials. The results obtained are compared with the published numerical results.