Melting and Freezing of Colloidal Crystals on Strained Substrates

We present results of experiments studying the effect of strain on the dynamics of melting and freezing in single-layer colloidal crystals with a short-range attractive interaction. Our system consists of micron sized colloidal particles and a tunable depletant allowing reversible control of the interaction \textit{via} small temperature changes. We explore the role of strain in the dynamics of melting and freezing by investigating crystallization on a flat patterned substrate. We find that in comparison with previously performed experiments on flat unpatterned substrates, the dynamics of melting and freezing on such surfaces alter dramatically. For example whereas melting of such crystals on a flat substrate was shown to proceed through an intermediary metastable liquid phase, we find that for surfaces templated with a lattice that is commensurate with that of the melting crystal, this intermediary step is suppressed.