A mesoscopic system of dipolar bosons trapped by a harmonic potential is considered. The system has a number of physical realizations including dipole excitons, atoms with large dipolar moment, polar molecules, and Rydberg atoms in inhomogeneous electric field. We carry out a diffusion Monte Carlo simulation to define the quantum properties of a two-dimensional system of trapped dipoles at zero temperature. In dimensionless units the system is described by two control parameters, namely, the number of particles and the strength of the interparticle interaction. We have shown that when the interparticle interaction is strong enough a mesoscopic crystal is formed. As the strength of interactions is decreased a multistage melting takes place. Off-diagonal order in the system is tested using natural-orbitals analysis. We have found that the system might be Bose condensed even in the case of strong interparticle interactions. There is a set of parameters for which a spatially ordered structure is formed while simultaneously the fraction of Bose-condensed particles is nonzero. This might be considered as a realization of a mesoscopic supersolid.

• Received 20 May 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.033615