Dynamics of crystallization in hard-sphere suspensions.

Density fluctuations are monitored by small-angle light scattering during the crystallization of 0.22-\ensuremath{\mu}m-radius, hard colloidal spheres. Measured structure factors show an intensity maximum at finite-scattering vectors. The shape of the intensity distribution scales at early times during nucleation and growth and again at large times during ripening. At intermediate times there is a crossover region where scaling ceases to be valid. Both the amplitude and the position of the maximum intensity show quasi-power law behavior in time. The values of the observed exponents are within the range expected for classical growth models. The breadth of the intensity distribution increases…