Melting of colloidal molecular crystals on triangular lattices

Sarlah, A.; Franosch, Thomas und Frey, Erwin (August 2005): Melting of colloidal molecular crystals on triangular lattices. In: Physical Review Letters, Bd. 95, Nr. 8: 088302-1

Abstract

The phase behavior of a two-dimensional colloidal system subject to a commensurate triangular potential is investigated. We consider the integer number of colloids in each potential minimum as rigid composite objects with effective discrete degrees of freedom. It is shown that there is a rich variety of phases including "herringbone" and "Japanese 6 in 1" phases. The ensuing phase diagram and phase transitions are analyzed analytically within variational mean-field theory and supplemented by Monte Carlo simulations. Consequences for experiments are discussed.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Publikationsform: Publisher's Version
• Fakultät: Physik
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 530 Physik
• ISSN: 0031-9007
• Ort: ONE PHYSICS ELLIPSE, COLLEGE PK, MD 20740-3844 USA
• Sprache: Englisch