Observations of First-Order Liquid-to-Hexatic and Hexatic-to-Solid Phase Transitions in a Confined Colloid Suspension

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Abstract
We have used digital video microscopy to study the equilibrium structure of quasi-two-dimensional suspensions of sterically stabilized uncharged polymethylmethacrylate spheres. Our experiments reveal the existence of an equilibrium hexatic phase as well as strongly first-order liquid-to-hexatic and hexatic-to-solid phase transitions. These observations are in agreement with the predictions of Bladon and Frenkel [Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 2519 (1995)] for a confined colloid suspension in which the pair interaction potential between particles has a hard core and either a very short range attraction or a very short range step repulsion.

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