  We present results from an extensive simulational study of the modulated
liquid $\longleftrightarrow$ crystal transition in a 2-d charge-stabilized
colloid subject to a 1-d laser field modulation commensurate with the
crystalline phase. {\em {Contrary to some earlier simulational and experimental
findings we do not find any reentrant liquid phase in our simulation.
Furthermore the transition remains first-order (albeit weak, with a fairly
large correlation length) even in the limit of infinite field, contrary to
mean-field predictions}}. In the modulated liquid phase, while the
translational order decays exponentially, the bond orientational order is
actually long ranged.
