Two Scenarios for Colloidal Phase Transitions

Ke-Qin Zhang, Xiang Y. Liu
2006 Physical Review Letters  
A two-dimensional assembly of charged colloidal particles induced by an alternating electric field was studied in real space by means of digital video microscopy. Phase transitions occur from a highly ordered colloidal monolayer to an isotropic suspension by changing the field strength or frequency (in the appropriate range). In particular, it is found that the strength-dependent phase transition is an infinite-order phase transition, in contrast with the frequency-dependent phase transition, which is a second-order phase transition.
doi:10.1103/physrevlett.96.105701 pmid:16605760 fatcat:to36wxgktbc5nnplz2cmkzq5ma