Figure 1

The impact of \(t_{off}\) on colloidal crystal quality in cycled electric fields experiments. (a) Schematic illustration of the experimental procedure for cyclic annealing of monolayer colloidal crystals. The electric field is initially turned on and maintained at \(V_{rms}\) = 8.0 V (E = 32 kVm⁻¹) and  frequency 5 MHz for \(t_{on}\); the electric field is then off for a period of \(t_{off}\). The applied field is cycled for a duration of 2700 s. (b) 2D confocal laser scanning micrographs of \(t_{off} \) = 0, 0.5 \(\tau_{50}\) and 10 \(\tau_{50}\) at the first, third and last cycle, respectively. (c) Time evolution of \(\psi_{6}\) data for cycled fields experiments with nine different durations of off time. \(t_{on}\) = 90 s for all experiments. Data in (c) are offset for clarity. (d) Change in \(\Delta \psi_{6}\) as a function of melting time ratio \(t_{off} /\tau_{50}\). The maximum \(\Delta \psi_{6}\) occurs at \(t_{off} /\tau_{50} = 0.5.\) Scale bars in CLSM images are 10 μm.