Anisotropic elasticity of experimental colloidal Wigner crystals

Emily R. Russell, Frans Spaepen, and David A. Weitz
Phys. Rev. E 91, 032310 – Published 17 March 2015

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 ϕ15%, 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.

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  • Received 8 October 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.91.032310

©2015 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Emily R. Russell1,*, Frans Spaepen2, and David A. Weitz1,2

  • 1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  • 2School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

  • *Present address: Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA; Emily_Russell@post.harvard.edu

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Issue

Vol. 91, Iss. 3 — March 2015

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