Confinement-induced liquid ordering investigated by x-ray phase retrieval

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2007 Feb;75(2 Pt 1):021501. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.75.021501. Epub 2007 Feb 6.

Abstract

Using synchrotron x-ray diffraction, we have determined the ensemble-averaged density profile of colloidal fluids within confining channels of different widths. We observe an oscillatory ordering-disordering behavior of the colloidal particles as a function of the channel width, while the colloidal solution remains in the liquid state. This phenomenon has been suggested by surface force studies of hard-sphere fluids and also theoretically predicted, but here we see it by direct measurements of the structure for comparable systems.