6533b870fe1ef96bd12cf130
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Precursor-mediated crystallization process in suspensions of hard spheres.
Tanja SchillingMartin OettelIan K. SnookGeorge OpletalHans Joachim Schöpesubject
Materials scienceStatistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)NucleationFOS: Physical sciencesGeneral Physics and AstronomyContext (language use)Hard spheresCondensed Matter - Soft Condensed MatterAmorphous solidlaw.inventionCrystalChemical physicslawMetastabilitySoft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)CrystalliteCrystallizationCondensed Matter - Statistical Mechanicsdescription
We report on a large scale computer simulation study of crystal nucleation in hard spheres. Through a combined analysis of real and reciprocal space data, a picture of a two-step crystallization process is supported: First dense, amorphous clusters form which then act as precursors for the nucleation of well-ordered crystallites. This kind of crystallization process has been previously observed in systems that interact via potentials that have an attractive as well as a repulsive part, most prominently in protein solutions. In this context the effect has been attributed to the presence of metastable fluid-fluid demixing. Our simulations, however, show that a purely repulsive system (that has no metastable fluid-fluid coexistence) crystallizes via the same mechanism.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-07-08 | Physical review letters |