Induced order and reentrant melting in classical two-dimensional binary clusters

Abstract

A binary system of classical charged particles interacting through a dipole repulsive potential and confined in a two-dimensional hardwall trap is studied by Brownian dynamics simulations. We found that the presence of small particles \emph{stabilizes} the angular order of the system as a consequence of radial fluctuations of the small particles. There is an optimum in the increased rigidity of the cluster as function of the number of small particles. The small (i.e. defect) particles melt at a lower temperature compared to the big particles and exhibit a \emph{reentrant} behavior in its radial order that is induced by the intershell rotation of the big particles.