Novel crystal phase in suspensions of hard ellipsoids

Phys. Rev. E 75, 020402 (2007) We present a computer simulation study on the crystalline phases of hard ellipsoids of revolution. For aspect ratios greater than or equal to 3 the previously suggested stretched-fcc phase [D. Frenkel and B. M. Mulder, Mol. Phys. 55, 1171 (1985)] is replaced by a novel...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors Pfleiderer, Patrick, Schilling, Tanja
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 06.12.2006
Subjects
Physics - Soft Condensed Matter
Physics - Statistical Mechanics
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Phys. Rev. E 75, 020402 (2007) We present a computer simulation study on the crystalline phases of hard ellipsoids of revolution. For aspect ratios greater than or equal to 3 the previously suggested stretched-fcc phase [D. Frenkel and B. M. Mulder, Mol. Phys. 55, 1171 (1985)] is replaced by a novel crystalline phase. Its unit cell contains two ellipsoids with unequal orientations. The lattice is simple monoclinic. The angle of inclination of the lattice, beta, is a very soft degree of freedom, while the two right angles are stiff. For one particular value of beta, the close-packed version of this crystal is a specimen of the family of superdense packings recently reported [Donev et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 255506 (2004)]. These results are relevant for studies of nucleation and glassy dynamics of colloidal suspensions of ellipsoids.
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0612151