Abstract
Using confocal microscopy, we investigate the structure of binary mixtures of colloidal hard spheres with size ratio . As a function of the packing fraction of the two particle species, we observe a marked change of the dominant wavelength in the pair-correlation function. This behavior is in excellent agreement with a recently predicted structural crossover in such mixtures. In addition, the repercussions of structural crossover on the real-space structure of a binary fluid are analyzed. We suggest a relation between crossover and the lateral extension of networks containing only equally-sized particles that are connected by nearest-neighbor bonds. This is supported by Monte Carlo simulations which are performed at different packing fractions and size ratios.
- Received 13 February 2007
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.198303
©2007 American Physical Society