Related papers: Crystallization of hard-sphere glasses
In experimental systems, colloidal particles are virtually always at least somewhat polydisperse, which can have profound effects on their ability to crystallize. Unfortunately, accurately predicting the effects of polydispersity on phase…
We discuss the crystallization process from the supersaturated melt in terms of its non-equilibrium properties. In particular, we quantify the amount of heat that is produced irreversibly when a suspension of hard spheres crystallizes. This…
Motivated by the mean field prediction of a Gardner phase transition between a "normal glass" and a "marginally stable glass", we investigate the off-equilibrium dynamics of three-dimensional polydisperse hard spheres, used as a model for…
Using large-scale molecular dynamics simulations for a system of $10^6$ particles, the response of a dense amorphous solid to the continuous expansion of its volume is investigated. We find that the spatially uniform glassy state becomes…
Glass is everywhere. We use and are surrounded by glass objects which make tangible the reality of glass as a distinct state of matter. Yet, glass as we know it is usually obtained by cooling a liquid sufficiently rapidly below its melting…
Computer simulations of the fluid-to-solid phase transition in the hard sphere system were instrumental for our understanding of crystallization processes. But while colloid experiments and theory have been predicting the stability of…
We report a systematic molecular dynamics study of the isochoric equilibration of hard-sphere fluids in their metastable regime close to the glass transition. The thermalization process starts with the system prepared in a non-equilibrium…
The fluid - crystal equilibria of polydisperse mixtures of hard spheres have been studied by computer simulation of the solid phase and using an accurate equation of state for the fluid. A new scheme has been developed to evaluate the…
We study the equilibrium thermodynamics of quantum hard spheres in the infinite-dimensional limit, determining the boundary between liquid and glass phases in the temperature-density plane by means of the Franz-Parisi potential. We find…
The process of homogeneous crystal nucleation has been considered in a model liquid, where the interparticle interaction is described by a short-range spherical oscillatory potential. Mechanisms of initiating structural ordering in the…
We report on a non-equilibrium phase of matter, the minimally disordered crystal phase, which we find exists between the maximally amorphous glasses and the ideal crystal. Even though these near crystals appear highly ordered, they display…
A fresh approach to the data from experiments with hard sphere colloids yields seminal insights into the glass transition. The precise determination of the fraction of particles caged by their neighbours is unprecedented and provides…
Concentrated colloidal suspensions are a well-tested model system which has a glass transition. Colloids are suspensions of small solid particles in a liquid, and exhibit glassy behavior when the particle concentration is high; the…
Colloidal model systems allow for a flexible tuning of particle sizes, particle spacings and mutual interactions at constant temperature. Colloidal suspensions typically crystallize as soon as the interactions get sufficiently strong and…
Hard spheres with an attraction of range a tenth to a hundredth of the sphere diameter are constrained to remain fluid even at densities when monodisperse particles at equilibrium would have crystallised, in order to compare with…
We study the phase behavior of hard spheres confined between two parallel hard plates using extensive computer simulations. We determine the full equilibrium phase diagram for arbitrary densities and plate separations from one to five…
Rapid cooling of liquids below a certain temperature range can result in a transition to glassy states. The traditional understanding of glasses includes their thermodynamic metastability with respect to crystals. However, here we present…
Dating from experiments more than 20 years ago, it has been realized that the crystallization of hard colloidal particles in the vicinity of dynamical arrest has several anomalies, that render the conventional nucleation and growth model…
We consider the crystallization problem for a finite one-dimensional collection of identical hard spheres in a periodic energy landscape. This issue arises in connection with the investigation of crystalline states of ionic dimers, as well…
There exists a variety of theories of the glass transition and many more numerical models. But because the models need built-in complexity to prevent crystallization, comparisons with theory can be difficult. We study the dynamics of a…