Direct observation of the nucleation in colloidal solid-solid transitions

Solid-solid phase transitions are ubiquitous in nature, but their microscopic mechanisms remain poorly understood. We employed thermally sensitive microgels to study the solid-solid transitions between square and triangular lattices in colloidal thin films. Two types of nucleation processes were directly observed by video microscopy and studied at the single-particle level. Under low flow rates, the nucleation is a two-step process: square lattice $\to$ liquid nucleus $\to$ triangle nucleus and its precursor is a local particle-exchange loop, whereas under high flow rates the nucleus of the triangle lattice forms directly from a dislocation pair by a martensitic mechanism. We measured the critical nucleus size, the energy barrier height and the hysteresis loop of the solid-solid transitions. Our results cast new light to solid-solid transitions in carbon systems, nano-crystals and geophysics.