Construction and stability of a close-packed structure observed in thin colloidal crystals.
We have characterized a close-packed structure of confined charged colloidal spheres, which has been recently discovered. Using different microscopy experiments, the vertically arranged hexagonal planes of n - hcp perpendicular are found to continuously evolve from the horizontally oriented stacks of n hexagonal planes (nDelta) following the maximum packing criterion, but discontinuously transform to a stack of n+1 square planes [(n+1)[SHAPE OF A SQUARE]]. Large mechanically stable domains with threefold twin structures are regularly observed in the suspended state at packing fractions between 0.4 and 0.58.
Fontecha
Ana Barreira
AB
Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Staudingerweg 7, D-55128 Mainz, Germany.
Palberg
Thomas
T
Schöpe
Hans Joachim
HJ