PERSISTENT CURRENT WITH FRACTIONAL PERIOD IN A MULTICHANNEL WIGNER CRYSTAL RING

We calculate the persistent current in a multichannel semiconductor ri ng with strongly correlated electrons when they form a Wigner crystal (WC). Pinning this crystal with a smooth gate potential leads to the s uppression of the amplitude of the Aharonov-Bohm oscillations and to t he fractionalization of the period. A fractional period Phi(0)/w(w = 2 , 3,..., 6) appears because of the strong coupling between channels in the tunneling process of the WC through the pinning barrier. (C) 1998 Academic Press Limited.