Real-Space Structure of Colloidal Hard-Sphere Glasses

The real-space structure of hard-sphere glasses quenched from colloidal liquids in thermodynamic equilibrium has been determined. Particle coordinates were obtained by combining the optical sectioning capability of confocal fluorescence microscopy with the structure of specially prepared fluorescent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1995-11, Vol.270 (5239), p.1177-1179
Main Authors: van Blaaderen, Alfons, Wiltzius, Pierre
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Chemistry
Colloidal gels. Colloidal sols
Colloidal state and disperse state
Colloids
Computer simulation
Coordinate systems
Coordination numbers
Crystals
Datasets
Exact sciences and technology
Fluorescence microscopy
General and physical chemistry
Glass
Liquids
Material concentration
Microscopy
Physical and chemical studies. Granulometry. Electrokinetic phenomena
Rapid quenching
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Summary:The real-space structure of hard-sphere glasses quenched from colloidal liquids in thermodynamic equilibrium has been determined. Particle coordinates were obtained by combining the optical sectioning capability of confocal fluorescence microscopy with the structure of specially prepared fluorescent silica colloids. Both the average structure and the local structure of glasses, with volume fractions ranging from 0.60 to 0.64, were in good agreement with glasses and random close packings generated by computer simulations. No evidence of a divergent correlation length was found. The method used to obtain the three-dimensional particle coordinates is directly applicable to other colloidal structures, such as crystals, gels, and flocs.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.270.5239.1177