Laser-stimulated Melting of a Two-dimensional Complex Plasma Crystal.

The melting of a two-dimensional plasma crystal was induced in a principally stable monolayer by laser-stimulated localized melting. Depending on the energy amount injected by the laser, the melted spot expanded outwards in a similar fashion to the mode-coupling instability (MCI) induced melting or recrystallized. As fluid MCI always exists in a melted monolayer, if the spot exceeded a critical size, the fluid MCI growth rate surpassed the damping rate and MCI-like melting was then observed. This behavior exhibits remarkable similarities with impulsive spot heating and thermal explosion in ordinary matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]