Ordering in Conformal Crystals

Condensed matter systems commonly undergo ordering processes that are frustrated by geometric constraints. Experiments on interfacial colloidal systems have resulted in several recent insights into the two dimensional ordering of crystalline lattices frustrated by Gaussian curvature. We study the ordering of flat colloidal Wigner crystals immersed in an axially symmetric potential. By relating the resulting inhomogenous structure to a lattice with Gaussian curvature, we investigate the role of topological defects in organizing the conformal crystal-like ground state.