Eur. Phys. J. E (2005) 18: 287-293
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/e2005-00034-9

Regular Articles

Experimental realization of a model glass former in 2D

¹ Department of Physics, University of Konstanz, 78457, Konstanz, Germany
² Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Institute of Physics, 55099, Mainz, Germany
³ Scintilla AG, 4501, Solothurn, Switzerland
⁴ Ascom Systec Ltd., 5504, Mägenwil, Switzerland

^* e-mail: koenigh@uni-mainz.de

Received: 14 June 2005
Published online: 18 October 2005

Abstract

We have studied binary two-dimensional (2D) mixtures of superparamagnetic colloidal particles interacting through magnetic dipole moments, which were induced by an external magnetic field B. By tuning B the effective system temperature could be widely adjusted. Time-dependent particle coordinates measured by video-microscopy provide radial pair-distribution functions, mean-square displacements as well as evidence for heterogeneous dynamics. Characteristic features of 3D glass formers are observed experimentally in 2D for the first time.