The effective shear viscosity and frequency-dependent dynamic oscillatory shear spectra of water containing monovalent or divalent ions (ionic strength 25 mM), confined between mica crystals at 1–2 water molecules thickness, oscillated with twist angle with the period expected for the pseudohexagonal surface lattice. The effective viscosity varied by orders of magnitude as the twist angle was changed. Confinement appeared to imprint lateral spatial correlation on the ultrathin liquid, the more so the better the confining lattices were aligned, but the oft-proposed “ice structure” was not observed dynamically.

• Received 6 February 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.096104