Microstructure formation in charged sphere colloidal crystals after heterogeneous nucleation

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Previous work has revealed a zoo of different microstructures of wall based charged sphere colloidal crystals including twinned monolithic crystals, hemispherical caps, growth and equilibriumm facets, den-drites, and different forms of overgrowth. We here propose to study these by various microscopic meth-ods, which give access to crystal shapes, structure, orientation of lattice planes and for mixtures also to composition. Focus will be on situations in which two different crystal species compete during simultane-ous solidification (twin domains, coexisting bcc and fcc crystals, eutectics) and may be influenced by experimental boundary conditions (gravity, particle wall interaction, salt gradients). Beyond these self organized microstructures we will also try to manipulate the distribution of crystal species via micro-contact printing.