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Dynamical Buckling Transitions of a Confined Colloidal Monolayer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Cherry A. Murray ,
Wolfgang Sprenger ,
Raj Seshadri  and
Jane E. Cerise
Wolfgang Sprenger
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, 600 Mountain Ave., Murray Hill, NJ 07974
Raj Seshadri
Affiliation:
Stanford University, School of Business, Stanford, CA 94305
Jane E. Cerise
Affiliation:
University of Houston, Department of Physics, Houston, TX 77204-5506
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Abstract

When a rigid two-dimensional triangular crystalline layer of colloidal spheres confined between two smooth repulsive walls is gradually given freedom to move out of plane, it buckles dynamically undergoing several Peierls transitions involving different soft phonon modes before forming a two layer crystal with square in-plane symmetry. We have mapped out the complex phase diagram of the buckling transitions as a function of sphere density and wall separation. Digital imaging is used to study the instantaneous particle positions and trajectories of the uniform, highly charged 0.3 μm diameter polystyrene spheres that comprise the crystalline layer in water suspension. Brownian motion of the spheres creates a true thermodynamic system with a real temperature, which is studied using video microscopy. We follow the collective dynamics of the system as well as individual particle motions and the motions and rearrangements of topological defects and domains. At sufficiently low sphere densities the system melts into a fluid. As the wall separation increases to the point of two layer formation we observe square symmetry in the fluid correlation volumes.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 366: Symposium N – Dynamics in Small Confining Systems , 1994 , 163
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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