EFFECT OF BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS ON FLUCTUATIONS AND SOLID-LIQUID TRANSITION IN CONFINED FILMS

A simple model of confinement-induced freezing in thin liquid layers i s presented, Under boundary conditions of vanishing displacement field at the walls, confinement suppresses the amplitude of fluctuations in a solid film below a critical value determined by the Lindemann crite rion of melting. The resulting increase of the melting temperature com pared to that of a bulk solid is estimated, and the connection with ex periments is discussed. The effects of other boundary conditions are a lso studied.