Lack of long-range order in confined two-dimensional model colloidal crystals

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2006 Jul;74(1 Pt 1):010404. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.74.010404. Epub 2006 Jul 28.

Abstract

We investigate the nature of the ordered phase for a model of colloidal particles confined within a quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) strip between two parallel boundaries, or walls, separated a distance D in two dimensions (2D). Using Monte Carlo simulations we find that at densities typical of the bulk 2D triangular solid the order in the D1D strip is determined by the nature of the boundaries. While the order is enhanced for a suitably corrugated boundary potential, for a uniformly repulsive smooth boundary potential ordering normal to the walls is enhanced ("layering"), but destroyed parallel to the wall.