Megens M, Vos WL. Particle excursions in colloidal crystals.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2001;
86:4855-4858. [PMID:
11384365 DOI:
10.1103/physrevlett.86.4855]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2000] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
We have performed synchrotron small-angle x-ray diffraction experiments on charge-stabilized colloidal crystals. The mean squared displacements, obtained from Debye-Waller factors, decrease with increasing density beyond freezing. Irrespective of the range of the repulsion, our data and previous results lie on a common curve, linearly scaled between the melting and close-packed densities. Surprisingly, the excursions are smaller than predicted by theory.
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