  We show by computer simulation of a two-dimensional crystal confined by
corrugated walls that confinement can be used to impose a controllable
mesoscopic superstructure of predominantly mechanical elastic character. Due to
an interplay of the particle density of the system and the width D of the
confining channel, "soliton staircases" can be created along both parallel
confining boundaries, that give rise to standing strain waves in the entire
crystal. The periodicity of these waves is of the same order as D. This
mechanism should be useful for structure formation in the self-assembly of
various nanoscopic materials.
