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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Cooling Rate Dependent Ellipsometry Measurements to Determine the Dynamics of Thin Glassy Films
Published on: January 26, 2016
Interplay between spinodal decomposition and glass formation in proteins exhibiting short-range attractions
Frédéric Cardinaux1, Thomas Gibaud, Anna Stradner
1Department of Physics, University of Fribourg, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
Abstract:
We investigate the competition between spinodal decomposition and dynamical arrest using aqueous solutions of the globular protein lysozyme as a model system for colloids with short-range attractions. We show that quenches below a temperature Ta lead to gel formation as a result of a local arrest of the protein-dense phase during spinodal decomposition. The rheological properties of these gels allow us to use centrifugation experiments to determine the local densities of both phases and to precisely locate the gel boundary and the attractive glass line close to and within the unstable region of the phase diagram.
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