Grain boundary scars and spherical crystallography.
We describe experimental investigations of the structure of two-dimensional spherical crystals. The crystals, formed by beads self-assembled on water droplets in oil, serve as model systems for exploring very general theories about the minimum-energy configurations of particles with arbitrary repulsive interactions on curved surfaces. Above a critical system size we find that crystals develop distinctive high-angle grain boundaries, or scars, not found in planar crystals. The number of excess defects in a scar is shown to grow linearly with the dimensionless system size. The observed slope is expected to be universal, independent of the microscopic potential.
Bausch
A R
AR
Department of Physics, E22, Technische Universität München, 85747 München, Germany.
Bowick
M J
MJ
Cacciuto
A
A
Dinsmore
A D
AD
Hsu
M F
MF
Nelson
D R
DR
Nikolaides
M G
MG
Travesset
A
A
Weitz
D A
DA