Structural Transition of Wigner Crystal on Liquid Substrate

The physics of an electron solid, held on a cryogenic liquid surface by a pressing electric field, is examined in a low-density regime that has not been explored before. We consider the effect of the pressing field in distorting the surface at the position of each electron and hence inducing an attractive force between the electrons. The system behavior is described in terms of an interplay between the repulsive Coulomb interaction and the attractive surface-induced interaction between individual electrons. For small densities and large enough pressing fields, we find a parameter regime where a square lattice is more favorable than the usual triangular lattice; we map out the first-order transition curve separating the two lattice geometries at zero temperature. In addition, our description allows an alternate static perspective on the charge-density wave instability of the system, corresponding to the formation of multi-electron dimples.