Equilibrium configurations of hard spheres in a cylindrical harmonic potential. (20th September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Winkelmann, J.; Mughal, A.; Weaire, D.; Hutzler, S.
• Is Part Of: Europhysics letters. Volume 127:Number 4(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-09-20
• Subjects: 45.70.-n -- 47.57.-s -- 61.50.Ah; Physics -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 530.05
• DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/127/44002
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0295-5075

Abstract

Abstract: A line of hard spheres confined by a transverse harmonic potential, with hard walls at its ends, exhibits a variety of buckled structures as it is compressed longitudinally. Here we show that these may be conveniently observed in a rotating liquid-filled tube (originally introduced by Lee et al . ( Adv. Mater., 29 (2017) 1704274) to assemble ordered three-dimensional structures at higher compressions). The corresponding theoretical model is transparent and easily investigated numerically, as well as by analytic approximations. Hence we explore a wide range of predicted structures occurring via bifurcation, of which the stable ones are also observed in our experiments. Qualitatively similar structures have previously been found in trapped ion systems.