Direct observation of stacking disorder in a colloidal crystal.

Colloidal crystals of rhodamine labeled silica spheres dispersed in chloroform have been studied with fluorescence confocal scanning laser microscopy. We report the first determination of the three-dimensional crystalline stacking in the bulk of a concentrated dispersion. The structure was found to consist of a random stacking of close-packed planes. The results are compared with light scattering experiments. © 1995 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]