Reentrant surface melting of colloidal hard spheres.
Concentrated suspensions of model colloidal hard spheres at a wall were studied in real space by means of time-resolved fluorescence confocal scanning microscopy. Both structure and dynamics of these systems differ dramatically from their bulk analogs (i.e., far away from a wall). In particular, sys...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2004
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| Summary: | Concentrated suspensions of model colloidal hard spheres at a wall were studied in real space by means of time-resolved fluorescence confocal scanning microscopy. Both structure and dynamics of these systems differ dramatically from their bulk analogs (i.e., far away from a wall). In particular, systems that are a glass in the bulk show significant hexagonal order at a wall. Upon increasing the volume fraction of the colloids, a reentrant melting transition involving a hexatic structure is observed. The last observation points to two-dimensional behavior of matter at walls. |
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