Colloidal crystal growth at externally imposed nucleation clusters
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-11-13 v1
Abstract
We study the conditions under which and how an imposed cluster of fixed colloidal particles at prescribed positions triggers crystal nucleation from a metastable colloidal fluid. Dynamical density functional theory of freezing and Brownian dynamics simulations are applied to a two-dimensional colloidal system with dipolar interactions. The externally imposed nucleation clusters involve colloidal particles either on a rhombic lattice or along two linear arrays separated by a gap. Crystal growth occurs after the peaks of the nucleation cluster have first relaxed to a cutout of the stable bulk crystal.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0802.2235,
title = {Colloidal crystal growth at externally imposed nucleation clusters},
author = {Sven van Teeffelen and Christos N. Likos and Hartmut Löwen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0802.2235},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett