Precursor-mediated crystallization process in suspensions of hard spheres
Abstract
We report on a large scale computer simulation study of crystal nucleation in hard spheres. Through a combined analysis of real and reciprocal space data, a picture of a two-step crystallization process is supported: First dense, amorphous clusters form which then act as precursors for the nucleation of well-ordered crystallites. This kind of crystallization process has been previously observed in systems that interact via potentials that have an attractive as well as a repulsive part, most prominently in protein solutions. In this context the effect has been attributed to the presence of metastable fluid-fluid demixing. Our simulations, however, show that a purely repulsive system (that has no metastable fluid-fluid coexistence) crystallizes via the same mechanism.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1003.2552,
title = {Precursor-mediated crystallization process in suspensions of hard spheres},
author = {T. Schilling and H. J. Schope and M. Oettel and G. Opletal and I. Snook},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1003.2552},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
4 figures