Journal
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Volume 6, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/srep24056
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Funding
- National Basic Research Program of China [2012CB821500]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [21522404, 21174101, 11574222]
- Project for Jiangsu Scientific and Technological Innovation Team
- Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD)
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Melting is considered to be one of the most fundamental problems in physical science. Generally, dimensionality plays an important role in melting. In three-dimension, it's well known that a crystal melts directly into a liquid via a first-order transition. In two-dimension (2D), however, the melting process has been widely debated whether it is a first-order transition or a two-step transition with an intermediate hexatic phase. Experimentally 2D melting has been intensively studied in equilibrium systems such as molecular and colloidal crystals, but rarely been explored in non-equilibrium system such as granular materials. In this paper, we experimentally studied the 2D melting in a driven granular model system at single particle level using video recording and particle tracking techniques. Measurements of orientational/translational correlation functions show evidences that the melting is a two-step transition. A novel concept of orientational/translational susceptibilities enable us to clearly resolve the intermediate hexatic phase. Our results are in excellent agreement with the two-step melting scenario predicted by KTHNY theory, and demonstrate that the KTHNY melting scenario can be extended to non-equilibrium systems.
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