Showing papers by "Anand Yethiraj published in 2002"

Epitaxial Crystal Growth of Charged Colloids

Abstract: A pattern of repulsive, charged lines is shown to direct three-dimensional (3D) crystallization in a system of long-range repulsive, density-matched colloids. At volume fractions where the bulk phase behavior leads to bcc crystallization, the 1D template was found to induce formation of a metastable fcc crystal. The bcc crystals were oriented with the (100) or the (110) plane, with twofold twinning, parallel to the template. The template further induced prefreezing of the (100) plane. At a large mismatch between template and interparticle spacing, 1D strings form in the surface layer of a 3D crystal.

Two experimental tests of a fluctuation-induced first-order phase transition: intensity fluctuation microscopy at the nematic-smectic-A transition.

Abstract: We have developed a new, extremely sensitive real-space technique (intensity fluctuation microscopy) to probe the order of the nematic-smectic-A (NA) transition Using this technique, we show that the NA transition in 4'-n-octyl-4-cyanobiphenyl (8CB) is clearly first order, contrary to calorimetric studies but in agreement with conclusions drawn from front-velocity measurements We characterize the strength of the discontinuity at the first-order transition by the dimensionless quantity t(0)=(T(NA)-T*)/T(*) By precisely measuring t(0), we have made the first detailed tests of predictions based on the Halperin-Lubensky-Ma (HLM) theory of fluctuation-induced, first-order phase transitions First, we explore the effect of an external magnetic field on the NA transition Although modest fields (of order 10 T) are predicted to drive the weakly first-order transition in pure 8CB second order, we observe no such effect; we establish instead that the lower bound on this critical field is approximately 30 T Likewise, we observe no effect in mixtures of 8CB with its longer chemical homolog 4'-n-decyl-4-cyanobiphenyl (10CB) Second, we examine the dependence of t(0) as a function of 8CB-10CB mixture concentration and find that the data in mixtures with small nematic temperature range are well-fit by the parameters derived by Anisimov et al based on calorimetric measurements As we increase the nematic range (by using concentrations closer to pure 8CB), the measured t(0) deviates more and more from the HLM predictions Smectic fluctuations, which are neglected in the HLM calculation, are an obvious candidate to explain such a discrepancy, but one's naive expectation is that they would reduce t(0) below the HLM levels, whereas the observed values are too large However, a recent renormalization-group calculation concludes that smectic fluctuations, surprisingly, should indeed increase t(0), explaining the observations presented here

Monodisperse colloidal suspensions of silica and pmma spheres as model electrorheological fluids: a real-space study of structure formation

Abstract: Colloidal particle coordinates in three dimensions can be obtained in 3D samples with a combination of the increased resolution and optical sectioning capabilities of confocal microscopy and fluorescently labeled model core-shell silica colloids. In this work we show how this capability can be used to analyze structure formation in electrorheological fluids on a quantitative basis. We find body-centered-tetragonal (BCT) crystals for colloidal particles in an electric field. Metastable sheet like structures were identified as an intermediate phase prior to BCT crystal formation. Due to finitesize effects induced by the electrode surface the sheets are not randomly oriented, but grow preferentially with a 60 o tilt with respect to the electric field. Preliminary measurements indicate that flow-aligned sheets form under shear. Finally, we show that in the case that the ionic strength is very low, electric-field-induced dipolar interactions can be present in addition to long-range repulsions between the colloids leading to interesting metastable and equilibrium structures with possibilities for applications in photonic bandgap crystals as well as in model ER studies. Electrorheological (ER) [1] and magnetorheological (MR) fluids have been studied since the 1950’s with a view to developing wide-ranging applications that relate to the reversible millisecond field-responsive control of the apparent fluid viscosity. Commercial ER and MR fluids are “messy” systems of odd-shaped and polydisperse sub-millimeter particles in a fluid suspension. The detailed physical mechanisms and the role of variables such as size and shape polydispersity, the role of a mobile surface-charge layer in the ER case, and the role of Brownian motion, are only now beginning to be understood (see [2] for a recent review). Moreover, while rheological measurements have yielded a lot of information, there is yet only limited information about the kinds of structures formed [3-5] and their dynamics. In this paper, we describe a technique and two model systems for studying the kinetics of the ER response.