A. Imhof et Jkg. Dhont, EXPERIMENTAL PHASE-DIAGRAM OF A BINARY COLLOIDAL HARD-SPHERE MIXTURE WITH A LARGE-SIZE RATIO, Physical review letters, 75(8), 1995, pp. 1662-1665
We determined the phase diagram of a binary hard-sphere dispersion wit
h size ratio 9.3. Phase separation into a fluid and a crystal of large
spheres is observed. The fluid-solid binodal is determined by measure
ments of compositions of coexisting phases. The results agree qualitat
ively with recent theories, although the latter strongly overestimate
the depletion activity of the smaller spheres. By fluorescent labeling
we are able to measure the mobility of both particles separately. We
found evidence for a new glassy phase in which only the small spheres
are mobile.