Colloidal Crystals are formed when small spheres are suspended in a fluid. Over time the spheres settle into a structure that is periodic in two or three dimensions. These structures are useful in many modern applications including photonic semiconductors and porous catalysts. Controlling the colloidal structure, and the consistency of the structure is of great interest to researchers.
To learn about the discovery of a mechanism for defect motion in two dimensional colloidal crystals click here.
For information on techniques used to observe the phase transitions of colloidal crystals click here.
In atomic and most molecular materials the nucleation of crystallites is very fast and therefore hard to observe. However, suspensions of colloidal particles are good model systems to study the growth of crystals. For more information, click here.
For information on how researchers are reducing defects in colloidal crystals, click here.
To learn about an interesting property of two dimensional colloidal crystals that is being studied at the University of Pennsylvania, click here.
To veiw a paper on the optical properties of two dimensional colloidal crystals, click here.
To learn how volume fraction affects the structure and interparticle interactions of colloidal crystals, click here.
A new method for the determination of elastic constants of colloidal systems has been discovered. For more information, click here.
For information on a method of avoiding cracks in colloidal crystal structure as aqueous colloids dry, click here.
For information on using diffraction to determine the quality of the ordering of the crystals, click here.
For information on x-ray diffraction on a single colloidal crystal, click here.
For information on spectroscopic and interferometric determination of photonic band structure in the infrared, We use microstructured substrates as tunable quenched symmetry-breaking fields to study the pinning effects in 2D colloidal crystals
For information on using microstructured substrates as tunable quenched symmetry-breaking fields to study the pinning effects in 2D colloidal crystals, click here.
For information on using direct space measurements to determine bulk elasticity of FCC crystals, click here.
For information on some practical applications of colloidal crystals, click here.