Science Daily March 29,2018
An international team of researchers (Germany, Italy) experimentally and theoretically demonstrated the occurrence of the Aubry transition (AT), predicted in the 1980s, in an extended two-dimensional system at room temperature using a colloidal monolayer on an optical lattice. Unlike the continuous nature of the AT in 1D, they observed a first-order transition in 2D leading to a coexistence regime of pinned and unpinned areas. The data demonstrates that the original concept of AT not only survives in 2D but is relevant for the design of nanoscopic machines and devices at ambient temperature…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
If the monolayer of a colloid crystal (blue pellets) slides over an optical grid (orange), friction can disappear entirely. Credit: Thorsten Brazda