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Packing Confined Hard Spheres Denser with Adaptive Prism Phases

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Physical Review Letters · Journal article · 21 November 2012

E. C. Oğuz, M. Marechal, F. Ramiro-Manzano, I. Rodriguez, R. Messina, F. J. Meseguer and H. Löwen

Physical Review Letters

Volume 109

Issue 21

Article 218301

2012

Abstract

We show that hard spheres confined between two parallel hard plates pack denser with periodic adaptive prismatic structures which are composed of alternating prisms of spheres. The internal structure of the prisms adapts to the slit height which results in close packings for a range of plate separations, just above the distance where three intersecting square layers fit exactly between the plates. The adaptive prism phases are also observed in real-space experiments on confined sterically stabilized colloids and in Monte Carlo simulations at finite pressure.

How to cite

Initials first

E. C. Oğuz, M. Marechal, F. Ramiro-Manzano, I. Rodriguez, R. Messina, F. J. Meseguer and H. Löwen. “Packing Confined Hard Spheres Denser with Adaptive Prism Phases.” Phys. Rev. Lett. 109(21), 218301 (2012). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.218301.

Family name first

Oğuz, E. C., Marechal, M., Ramiro-Manzano, F., Rodriguez, I., Messina, R., Meseguer, F. J. and Löwen, H. “Packing Confined Hard Spheres Denser with Adaptive Prism Phases.” Phys. Rev. Lett. 109(21), 218301 (2012). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.218301.

Article access and reuse

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Figures

Figure 1. Hard spheres of diameter σ confined between two parallel hard plates separated by H.

From E. C. Oğuz et al., Physical Review Letters 109, 218301 (2012), DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.218301. © 2012 American Physical Society.

Figure 2. Packing fraction and adaptive prism structures across the studied confinement regimes.

From E. C. Oğuz et al., Physical Review Letters 109, 218301 (2012), DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.218301. © 2012 American Physical Society.

Figure 3. SEM micrographs and a simulation snapshot of adaptive prism phases.

From E. C. Oğuz et al., Physical Review Letters 109, 218301 (2012), DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.218301. © 2012 American Physical Society.

Figure 4. Finite-pressure simulations compared with the infinite-pressure close-packing prediction.

From E. C. Oğuz et al., Physical Review Letters 109, 218301 (2012), DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.218301. © 2012 American Physical Society.