title: Anisotropic elasticity of experimental colloidal Wigner crystals.
abstract: Colloidal particles interacting via a long-range repulsion can, in contrast to hard-sphere systems, exhibit crystalline ordering at low volume fraction. Here we experimentally investigate the structure and properties of such "colloidal Wigner crystals." We find a body-centered-cubic crystalline phase at volume fractions of ϕ≳15%, which exhibits large fluctuations of individual particles from their average positions. We determine the three independent crystalline elastic constants and find that these crystals are very compliant and highly anisotropic.
authors: Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors: Emily R
authors: ER
authors: Russell
authors: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors: Frans
authors: F
authors: Spaepen
authors: Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.|School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors: David A
authors: DA
authors: Weitz