STRUCTURE OF COLLOIDAL GLASSES CALCULATED BY THE MOLECULAR-DYNAMICS METHOD AND MEASURED BY LIGHT-SCATTERING

Static structure factors S(q) were measured by laser light scattering for very concentrated systems of spherical, near-monosized, sterically stabilized particles dispersed in nonpolar liquids. A range of systems with particle concentrations beyond that corresponding to the disorder to order transition configurations were found to have amorphous structures. As the particles were stabilized by means of very short chain polymers, these systems were thought to closely approximate the fundamentally important amorphous, hard-sphere system. Subsequent analysis of S(q) carried out by means of data generated by the molecular-dynamics method for very concentrated, amorphous states of the hard-sphere system confirmed this interpretation. Thus we were able, by a combination of experiment and simulation, to give an extensive analysis and description of the structure of the amorphous state of a system of hard spheres. This study complements past work on the thermo-dynamic and transport properties of metastable, amorphous states of a system of hard spheres.