title: Layering transitions in confined colloidal crystals: the hcp-like phase.
abstract: This paper investigates the sequence of morphological transitions in a nearly hard sphere arrangement confined in a wedge cell. A model that shows smooth transitions between the different particle orderings for a small number of layers is proposed. In this model, both the buckling and the (100) hexagonal close packed (hcp) phases are particular cases of a much more general particle arrangement tendency that we call hcp-like ordering. This phase, which does not correspond to any known close packed ordering, is able to adopt packing arrangements commensurate with the cell thickness. More striking, the hcp-like phase adapts itself to the progressive changes of the cell thickness by a smooth change in the interlayer spacing. We present hcp-like orderings up to six layers and a complete sequence of transformations between two and four layers. Finally, a packing model of the transition from two to three layers is also presented.
authors.affiliation: Centro Tecnológico de Ondas-Unidad Asociada CSIC-ICMM/UPV, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Avenida Los Naranjos, 46022 Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ramiro-Manzano
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bonet
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Meseguer