title: Precursor-mediated crystallization process in suspensions of hard spheres.
abstract: We report on a large scale computer simulation study of crystal nucleation in hard spheres. Through a combined analysis of real- and reciprocal-space data, a picture of a two-step crystallization process is supported: First, dense, amorphous clusters form which then act as precursors for the nucleation of well-ordered crystallites. This kind of crystallization process has been previously observed in systems that interact via potentials that have an attractive as well as a repulsive part, most prominently in protein solutions. In this context the effect has been attributed to the presence of metastable fluid-fluid demixing. Our simulations, however, show that a purely repulsive system (that has no metastable fluid-fluid coexistence) crystallizes via the same mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Theory of Soft Condensed Matter, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schilling
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Schöpe
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oettel
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Opletal
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Snook