Laser induced quasicrystalline order in charge stabilised colloidal systems

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that a two-dimensional charge-stabilized colloidal system can form stable decagonal quasicrystalline order under a specific laser field, revealing reentrant melting and continuous phase transitions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to induce and analyze quasicrystalline order in colloidal systems using a modulated laser field, expanding understanding of phase behavior.

Findings

Decagonal quasicrystalline phase is stable in certain conditions.

Reentrant melting occurs at higher laser field strengths.

Transition to quasicrystal is continuous, unlike the first-order transition to crystals.

Abstract

We have studied the ordering of a two dimensional charge stabilised colloidal system in the presence of a stationary one dimensionally modulated laser field formed by the superposition of two modulations with wavevectors $q_0 \tau$ and $q_0/\tau$, where $q_0$ is the wavevector corresponding to the first peak of the direct correlation function of the unperturbed liquid, and $\tau$ is the golden mean. In the framework of the Landau-Alexander-McTague theory we find that a decagonal quasicrystalline phase is stabler than the liquid or the triangular lattice in certain regions of the phase diagram. Our study also shows a reentrant melting phenomena for larger laser field strengths. We find that the transition from the modulated liquid to the quasicrystalline phase is continuous in contrast to a first order transition from the modulated liquid to the triangular crystalline phase.