ABSTRACT
An ultrafast quench is applied to binary mixtures of superparamagnetic colloidal particles confined at a two-dimensional water-air interface by a sudden increase of an external magnetic field. This quench realizes a virtually instantaneous cooling which is impossible in molecular systems. Using real-space experiments, the relaxation behavior after the quench is explored. Local crystallites with triangular and square symmetry are formed on different time scales, and the correlation peak amplitude of the small particles evolves nonmonotonically in time in agreement with Brownian dynamics computer simulations.
ABSTRACT
The zero-temperature phase diagram of binary mixtures of like-charge particles interacting via a screened Coulomb pair potential is calculated as a function of composition and charge ratio. The potential energy obtained by a Lekner summation is minimized among a variety of candidate two-dimensional crystals. A wealth of different stable crystal structures is identified including A, B, AB(2), A(2)B, and AB(4) structures [A (B) particles correspond to large (small) charge.] Their elementary cells consist of triangular, square, or rhombic lattices of the A particles with a basis comprising various structures of A and B particles. For small charge asymmetry there are no intermediate crystals besides the pure A and B triangular crystals. The predicted structures are detectable in experiments on confined mixtures of like-charge colloids or dusty plasma sheets.
