title: Experimental study of the relationship between local particle-size distributions and local ordering in random close packing.
abstract: We experimentally study the structural properties of a sediment of size distributed colloids. By determining each particle size using a size estimation algorithm, we are able to investigate the relationship between local environment and local ordering. Our results show that ordered environments of particles tend to generate where the local particle-size distribution is within 5%. In addition, we show that particles whose size is close to the average size have 12 coordinate neighbors, which matches the coordination number of the fcc and hcp crystals. On the other hand, bcc structures are observed around larger particles. Our results represent experiments to show a size dependence of the specific ordering in colloidal systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan.
authors.forename: Rei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kurita