Wigner glasses in soft matter

by Emanuela Zaccarelli (CNR-ISC e Dipartimento di Fisica - Univ. Sapienza)

Friday 19 Feb 2010, 11:00 → 12:00 Europe/Rome

Aula 3 (Dipartimento di Fisica - Ed. E.Fermi)

Seminario organizzato dall'Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi I will review the evidence of Wigner glasses in soft matter systems. Starting with pioneering experimental work in the 80s on charged colloidal particles, the concept of a Wigner glass, i.e. a low-density arrested state stabilized by Coulomb repulsion, has been introduced. I will show some numerical evidence and comparison with Mode Coupling Theory for binary mixtures of charged particles. More recently, in colloidal systems with competing interactions, Wigner glasses made by clusters, rather than by particles, have been found. Finally, I will discuss the case of Laponite, in conjuction with experimental work.