title: Crystallization dynamics of a single layer complex plasma.
abstract: We report a series of complex (dusty) plasma experiments, aimed at the study of the detailed time evolution of the recrystallization process following a rapid quench of a two-dimensional dust liquid. The experiments were accompanied by large-scale (million-particle) molecular dynamics simulations, assuming Yukawa-type interparticle interaction. Both experiment and simulation show a ∝t(α) (power-law) dependence of the linear crystallite domain size as measured by the bond-order correlation length, translational correlation length, dislocation (defect) density, and a direct size measurement algorithm. The results show two stages of order formation. On short time scales, individual particle motion dominates; this is a fast process characterized by α=0.93±0.1. At longer time scales, small crystallites undergo collective rearrangement, merging into bigger ones, resulting in a smaller exponent α=0.38±0.06.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 49, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hartmann
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Douglass
authors.forename: Jorge C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Reyes
authors.forename: Lorin S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.forename: Truell W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Hyde
authors.forename: Anikó
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kovács
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Donkó