Dynamical response of a pinned two-dimensional Wigner crystal

Abstract

Motivated by puzzling results of recent experiments, we re-examine the response of a weakly pinned two-dimensional Wigner crystal to a uniform AC electric field. We confirm that at some disorder and magnetic field dependent frequency $\omega_p$, an inhomogeneously broadened absorption line emerges. Although the line is conventionally broad in zero magnetic field, in strong fields it appears as a sharp resonance whose width is related to the density of states in the low-frequency tail of the zero-field phonon spectrum. This behavior originates due to the long-range Coulomb interactions.