Structure of Quasi-One Dimensional Ribbon Colloid Suspensions

TL;DR

This experimental study investigates colloid fluids confined in quasi-one-dimensional ribbon channels, confirming theoretical predictions about stratification, liquid-like order within strata, and anisotropic pair correlations across different layers.

Contribution

It provides experimental validation of theoretical models describing the structural behavior of colloids in quasi-one-dimensional confinement.

Findings

Density distribution shows stratification.

Order within strata remains liquid-like at high densities.

Pair correlation functions are anisotropic across strata.

Abstract

We report the results of an experimental study of a colloid fluid confined to a quasi-one dimensional (q1D) ribbon channel as a function of channel width and colloid density. Our findings confirm the principal predictions of previous theoretical studies of such systems. These are (1) that the density distribution of the liquid transverse to the ribbon channel exhibits stratification; (2) that even at the highest density the order along the strata, as measured by the longitudinal pair correlation function, is characteristic of a liquid; and (3) the q1D pair correlation functions in different strata exhibits anisotropic behavior, resembling that found in a Monte Carlo simulation for the in-plane pair correlation function of a hard sphere fluid in a planar slit.