Data for Hernandez-Guzman & Weeks (PNAS 2009)

Equilibrated colloidal crystal - liquid interface

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Important note: Some particles may not exist at all times, but the tracking program has identified them as likely the same particle and thus with a continuous identity. However, it is known that occasionally the tracking program makes mistakes with this.

These data sets were studied in:


Experimental data

We had a sample with the overall volume fraction in the crystal/liquid coexistence region. Of course, density-matching isn't perfect so the slide had a gradient of volume fraction. The slide was stored vertically and examined with confocal microscopy vertically, so that we examined the location containing the interface between the crystal and liquid.

Data file: pnas09.zip (6.3 MB)

Format of data: This is a textfile with seven columns. The columns are (x,y,z,N_o,c,t,ID). The (x,y,z,diameter) data are in microns. The fourth column corresponds to the N_o variable in our article, which is the number of ordered neighbors the particle has. We use the criterion that N_o > 7 means a particle is crystalline. The fifth column, "c", is the coordination number of each particle: the number of nearest neighbors, defined as particles with centers less than 1.41d away, using the mean particle diameter d=2.30 microns. Each particle has a unique ID number assigned to it. Time t is an integer; to convert to seconds, multiply by 25 s.