VIDEO MICROSCOPY OF MONODISPERSE COLLOIDAL SYSTEMS

Colloidal suspensions of uniformly sized microspheres can serve as pow erful model systems for investigating many-body processes in condensed -matter physics. The ensemble of microspheres in such suspensions unde rgoes disorder-order transitions from fluids to crystals in direct ana logy with the structural transitions experienced by atoms in conventio nal materials. Unlike atoms, however, colloidal spheres can be imaged and tracked using optical microscopy and computerized image processing . This review addresses issues in the physics of phase transitions tha t have been attacked through digital video microscopy of colloidal dis persions over the past decade. Particular emphasis is placed on micros copic mechanisms of melting and freezing and on the effects of geometr ic confinement on these fundamental processes.