Compression induced crystal-to-glass transition in soft colloidal solids

Using colloidal particles with different thermosensitivities,we observe the transition from a crystalline solid to a dis-ordered glass by tuning the size mismatch of the constituent particles in quasi-two-dimensional configurations.The transition is clearly identifiable by the correlation functions of the orientational order parameters and its susceptibilities.Different from typical order-to-disorder transitions such as melting,where the underlying mechanism involves the diffusion of defects,the disordered phase in the crystal-to-glass transition grows via a nucleation process.The disordered clusters grow in size as the particle mismatch increases,and eventually percolate the whole system,which signifies the qualitative change from an ordered crystal to a disordered glass.