Melting and Frustration in Temperature-Sensitive Colloids

I will review experiments from my laboratory that employ temperature-sensitive microgel particles to induce novel phase behavior in suspension. This phenomenon offers a fantastic new variable for control of lyotropic suspensions. Recent experiments, for example, have enabled us to learn how three-dimensional crystals first begin to melt [1], to directly observe melting in 2-D wherein intermediate hexatic phases form [2], and to create geometrically frustrated colloidal ``anti-ferromagnets'' [3]. \\[4pt] References: \\[0pt] [1] Alsayed, A.M., Islam, M.F., Zhang, J., Collings, P.J., Yodh, A.G., Science 309, 1207-1210, (2005). \\[0pt] [2] Han Y, Ha NY, Alsayed AM and Yodh AG, Phys. Rev. E, Vol. 77 (2008). \\[0pt] [3] Y. Han, Y. Shokef, A. M. Alsayed, P. Yunker, T. C. Lubensky, and A. G. Yodh, ``Geometric frustration in buckled colloidal monolayers,'' to be published in Nature (2008).