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Confocal Imaging of Confined Quiescent and Flowing Colloid-polymer Mixtures
Published on: May 21, 2014
Properties of cage rearrangements observed near the colloidal glass transition
1Physics Department, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. weeks@physics.emory.edu
Abstract:
We use confocal microscopy to study particle motion in colloidal systems. Near the glass transition, motion is inhibited, as particles spend time trapped in transient "cages" formed by neighboring particles. We measure the cage sizes and lifetimes, which, respectively, shrink and grow as the glass transition approaches. Cage rearrangements are more prevalent in regions with lower concentrations and higher disorder. Neighboring rearranging particles typically move in parallel directions, although a nontrivial fraction moves in antiparallel directions, usually from particle pairs with initial separations corresponding to local maxima and minima of the pair correlation function g(r), respectively.
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