Related papers: Complex Crystals from Size-disperse Spheres
The most efficient way to pack equally sized spheres isotropically in 3D is known as the random close packed state, which provides a starting point for many approximations in physics and engineering. However, the particle size distribution…
All hard, convex shapes are conjectured by Ulam to pack more densely than spheres, which have a maximum packing fraction of {\phi} = {\pi}/\sqrt18 ~ 0.7405. For many shapes, simple lattice packings easily surpass this packing fraction. For…
In supercooled liquids, vitrification generally suppresses crystallization. Yet some glasses can still crystallize despite the arrest of diffusive motion. This ill-understood process may limit the stability of glasses, but its microscopic…
We present a systematic investigation of the distribution of normal forces at the boundaries of static packings of spheres. A new method for the efficient construction of large hexagonal-close-packed crystals is introduced and used to study…
This paper analyzes the compaction behavior of assemblies composed of soft (elastic) spherical particles beyond the jammed state, using three-dimensional non-smooth contact dynamic simulations. The assemblies of particles are characterized…
The phase behavior of helical packings of thermoresponsive microspheres inside glass capillaries is studied as a function of volume fraction. Stable packings with long-range orientational order appear to evolve abruptly to disordered states…
Using Brownian dynamics computer simulations we show that a two-dimensional suspension of self-propelled ("active") colloidal particles crystallizes at sufficiently high densities. Compared to the equilibrium freezing of passive particles…
We study poly-crystalline spherical drops of an aqueous suspension of highly charged colloidal spheres exposed to a colloid-free aqueous environment. Crystal contours were obtained from standard optical imaging. The crystal spheres first…
By molecular-dynamics simulations, we have studied the devitrification (or crystallization) of aged hard-sphere glasses. First, we find that the dynamics of the particles are intermittent: Quiescent periods, when the particles simply…
We numerically study structural properties of mechanically stable packings of hard spheres (HS), in a wide range of packing fractions $0.53 \le \phi \le 0.72$. Detailed structural information is obtained from the analysis of orientational…
Hard-sphere colloids are popular as models for testing fundamental theories in condensed matter and statistical physics, from crystal nucleation to the glass transition. A single parameter, the volume fraction (phi), characterizes an ideal,…
Complex crystal structures are composed of multiple local environments, and how this type of order emerges spontaneously during crystal growth has yet to be fully understood. We study crystal growth across various structures and along…
We perform Dynamic Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the equilibrium dynamics of hard colloidal cuboids in oblate and prolate nematic liquid crystals. In particular, we characterise the particles' diffusion along the nematic director…
Colloidal particles are often seen as big atoms that can be directly observed in real space. They are therefore playing an increasingly important role as model systems to study processes of interest in condensed matter physics such as…
We performed dynamic simulations of spheres with short-range attractive interactions for many values of interaction strength and range. Fast crystallization occurs in a localized region of this parameter space, but the character of…
Crystal plasticity occurs by deformation bursts due to the avalanche-like motion of dislocations. Here we perform extensive numerical simulations of a three-dimensional dislocation dynamics model under quasistatic stress-controlled loading.…
We study jammed configurations of hard spheres as a function of compression speed using an event-driven molecular dynamics algorithm. We find that during the compression, the pressure follows closely the metastable liquid branch until the…
When strained beyond the linear regime, soft colloidal glasses yield to steady-state plastic flow in a way that is similar to the deformation of conventional amorphous solids. Due to the much larger size of the colloidal particles with…
It is well known that a large fraction of galaxies have cuspy luminosity profiles in their central regions, at least within the observational resolution. In such cases, the often used, simplified, local approximation for the dynamical…
We study the dynamics of small fluctuations about the uniform state of a crystal moving through a dissipative medium, e.g. a sedimenting colloidal crystal or a moving flux lattice, using a set of continuum equations for the displacement…