The kinetics of crystallization and vitrification in colloidal hard spheres

We investigated the process of vitrification and crystallization in a model system of colloidal particles with a hard sphere (HS) like interaction. To analyze the similarities and differences of these two kinds of solidification processes we used two different kinds of experiments. The solidification kinetics was measured using time resolved static light scattering. By using a special dynamic light scattering setup we were able to track the change of the dynamic properties during the solidification process in great detail. By performing further analysis we confirm that solidification of a HS colloidal model system is mediated by precursors. In crystallization these objects convert into highly ordered crystals whereas in the case of vitrification this conversion is blocked and the system is locked in the metastable precursor state.