Abstract
We observed a two-step glass transition in monolayers of colloidal ellipsoids by video microscopy. The glass transition in the rotational degree of freedom was at a lower density than that in the translational degree of freedom. Between the two transitions, ellipsoids formed an orientational glass. Approaching the respective glass transitions, the rotational and translational fastest-moving particles in the supercooled liquid moved cooperatively and formed clusters with power-law size distributions. The mean cluster sizes diverge in power law as they approach the glass transitions. The clusters of translational and rotational fastest-moving ellipsoids formed mainly within pseudonematic domains and around the domain boundaries, respectively.
- Received 28 February 2011
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.065702
© 2011 American Physical Society
Viewpoint
Two for one in a colloidal glass
Published 1 August 2011
Colloids containing ellipsoidal particles have two distinct glass transitions.
See more in Physics