title: Two-dimensional melting of colloids with long-range attractive interactions.
abstract: The solid-liquid melting transition in a two-dimensional (2-D) attractive colloidal system is visualized using superparamagnetic colloids that interact through a long-range isotropic attractive interaction potential, which is induced using a high-frequency rotating magnetic field. Various experiments, supported by Monte Carlo simulations, are carried out over a range of interaction potentials and densities to determine structure factors, Lindermann parameters, and translational and orientational order parameters. The system shows a first-order solid-liquid melting transition. Simulations and experiments suggest that dislocations and disclinations simultaneously unbind during melting. This is in direct contrast with reports of 2-D melting of paramagnetic particles that interact with a repulsive interaction potential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, 6100 Main St. MS-362, Houston, TX 77005, USA. biswal@rice.edu.
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
authors.forename: Manolis
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9175-9906
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Doxastakis
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, 6100 Main St. MS-362, Houston, TX 77005, USA. biswal@rice.edu.
authors.forename: Elaa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hilou
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, 6100 Main St. MS-362, Houston, TX 77005, USA. biswal@rice.edu.
authors.forename: Sibani Lisa
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0610-835X
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Biswal