Related papers: Surface melting and crystallisation driven by sedi…
We consider homogeneous crystallisation rates in confocal microscopy experiments on colloidal nearly hard spheres at the single particle level. These we compare with Brownian dynamics simuations by carefully modelling the softness in the…
Using a coarse molecular-dynamics (CMD) approach with an appropriate choice of coarse variable (order parameter), we map the underlying effective free-energy landscape for the melting of a crystalline solid. Implementation of this approach…
The effects of particle roughness and short-ranged non-central forces on colloidal gels are studied using computer simulations in which particles experience a sinusoidal variation in energy as they rotate. The number of minima $n$ and…
Using numerical simulations we show that a variety of novel colloidal crystalline states and multi-step melting phenomena occur on square and triangular two-dimensional periodic substrates. At half-integer fillings different kinds of…
Glasses and gels are the two dynamically arrested, disordered states of matter. Despite their importance, their similarities and differences remain elusive, especially at high density. We identify dynamical and structural signatures which…
We investigate the formation of cluster crystals with multiply occupied lattice sites on a spherical surface in systems of ultra-soft particles interacting via repulsive, bounded pair potentials. Not all interactions of this kind lead to…
The sedimentation of a spherical particle in an elastoviscoplastic fluid in proximity of a flat wall is investigated by direct numerical simulations. The governing equations under inertialess conditions are solved by the finite element…
The sedimentation of a rigid particle near a wall in a viscous fluid has been studied numerically by many authors, but analytical solutions have been derived only for special cases such as the motion of spherical particles. In this paper…
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 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…
We investigate experimentally and theoretically thin layers of colloid particles held adjacent to a solid substrate by gravity. Epifluorescence, confocal, and holographic microscopy, combined with Monte Carlo and hydrodynamic simulations,…
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…
Granular material in a swirled container exhibits a curious transition as the number of particles is increased: at low densities the particle cluster rotates in the same direction as the swirling motion of the container, while at high…
We present a model for the motion of hard spherical particles on a two dimensional surface. The model includes both the interaction between the particles via collisions, as well as the interaction of the particles with the substrate. We…
Fractionation is necessary for self-assembly in multicomponent mixtures. Here, reversible fractionation and crystallization are realized and studied in a two-dimensional binary colloids which is supersaturated by enhancing the attraction…
Unstable systems of fluidized grains in a very-narrow vertical tube can auto-defluidize after some time, the settling particles forming either a glass- or crystal-like structure. We carried out experiments using different polymer spheres,…
Despite their technological relevance, a full microscopic understanding of glasses is still lacking. This applies even more to their surfaces whose properties largely differ from that of the bulk material. Here, we experimentally…
Self-propelled particles in an external gravitational field have been shown to display both an increased sedimentation length and polar order even without particle interactions. Here, we investigate self-propelled particles which…
We study the appearance and properties of cluster crystals (solids in which the unit cell is occupied by a cluster of particles) in a two-dimensional system of self-propelled active Brownian particles with repulsive interactions.…
Using computer simulations, we identify the mechanisms causing aggregation and structural arrest of colloidal suspensions interacting with a short-ranged attraction at moderate and high densities. Two different non-ergodicity transitions…