2002/01/15 by C. Reichhardt, C. J. Olson · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.88.248301
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 248301 (2002) · 4 pages, 4 postscript figures
arxiv created 2002/01/15 · arxiv updated 2016/08/31
We show using numerical simulations that a rich variety of novel colloidal crystalline states are realized on square and triangular two dimensional periodic substrates which can be experimentally created using crossed laser arrays. When there are more colloids than potential substrate minima, multiple colloids are trapped at each substrate minima and act as a single particle with a rotational degree of freedom, giving rise to a new type of orientational order. We call these states colloidal molecular crystals. A two-step melting can also occur in which individual colloidal molecules initially rotate, destroying the overall orientational order, followed by the onset of inter-well colloidal hopping.