Triple Junction at the Triple Point Resolved on the Individual Particle Level

M. Chaudhuri, E. Allahyarov, H. Löwen, S. U. Egelhaaf, and D. A. Weitz
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 128001 – Published 21 September 2017

Abstract

At the triple point of a repulsive screened Coulomb system, a fcc crystal, a bcc crystal, and a fluid phase coexist. At their intersection, these three phases form a liquid groove, the triple junction. Using confocal microscopy, we resolve the triple junction on a single-particle level in a model system of charged PMMA colloids in a nonpolar solvent. The groove is found to be extremely deep and the incommensurate solid-solid interface to be very broad. Thermal fluctuations hence appear to dominate the solid-solid interface. This indicates a very low interfacial energy. The fcc-bcc interfacial energy is quantitatively determined based on Young’s equation and, indeed, it is only about 1.3 times higher than the fcc-fluid interfacial energy close to the triple point.

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  • Received 11 May 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.128001

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied PhysicsStatistical Physics & ThermodynamicsPolymers & Soft Matter

Authors & Affiliations

M. Chaudhuri1,2,3, E. Allahyarov3,4, H. Löwen3, S. U. Egelhaaf5,*, and D. A. Weitz1,2

  • 1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  • 2School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  • 3Institute for Theoretical Physics II: Soft Matter, Heinrich Heine University, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
  • 4Theoretical Department, Joint Institute for High Temperatures, Russian Academy of Sciences (IVTAN), Moscow 125412, Russia
  • 5Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory, Heinrich Heine University, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany

  • *Corresponding author. stefan.egelhaaf@uni-duesseldorf.de

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Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 12 — 22 September 2017

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