Static structure of confined dumbbell-sphere colloidal mixtures

The static structure of quasi-two-dimensional colloidal mixtures of dumbbells and spheres is studied by optical microscopy. Colloidal dumbbells, produced by aggregation of colloidal spheres, are mixed with spherical particles and confined between two parallel glass walls. The static structural properties of this system are determined for various concentrations of spheres in the dilute limit of dumbbells. The dumbbell-sphere pair correlation function exhibits a strong angular dependence, and also shows that the presence of dumbbells favors the formation of triangular lattices even at sphere concentrations far from close packing.