Experimental determination of phase transitions by means of configurational entropies in finite Yukawa balls

The phase transition of finite Yukawa balls (ordered systems of microspheres in a gaseous plasma environment) with less than 100 particles is studied experimentally by means of configurational entropies. We have developed cylindrical two- and three-particle-correlation functions to measure these ent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. E 2017-11, Vol.96 (5-1), p.053202-053202, Article 053202
Main Authors: Mulsow, Matthias, Melzer, André
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:The phase transition of finite Yukawa balls (ordered systems of microspheres in a gaseous plasma environment) with less than 100 particles is studied experimentally by means of configurational entropies. We have developed cylindrical two- and three-particle-correlation functions to measure these entropies for multiple cluster sizes over a wide temperature range. The cluster temperature is finely tuned using a stochastic laser heating setup. It is shown that the correlation functions give a detailed insight into the structural properties of the cluster. The derived configurational entropies give a clear indication of the transition temperature from a solid-like to a fluid-like state. Comparing the transition temperatures of different sized clusters it is found that the transition temperature increases with cluster size in general agreement with theoretical predictions.
ISSN:2470-0045
2470-0053
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevE.96.053202