MICROWAVE RESONANCE STUDY OF MELTING IN HIGH MAGNETIC FIELD WIGNER SOLID

Wigner solids in two-dimensional electron systems in high magnetic field B exhibit a striking, microwave or rf resonance, that is understood as a pinning mode. The temperature, Tm, above which the resonance is absent, is interpreted as the melting temperature of the solid. Studies of Tm for many B and many sample densities n show that Tm is a function of the Landau level filling ν alone for a given sample. This indicates that quantum mechanics figures importantly in the melting. Tm also appears to be increased by larger sample disorder.