Structural and Dynamical Features of Multiple Metastable Glassy States in a Colloidal System with Competing Interactions

Abstract

Systems in which a short-ranged attraction and long-ranged repulsion compete are intrinsically frustrated, leading their structure and dynamics to be dominated either by mesoscopic order or by metastable disorder. Here, we report the latter case in a colloidal system with long-ranged electrostatic repulsions and short-ranged depletion attractions. We find a variety of states exhibiting slow nondiffusive dynamics: a gel, a glassy state of clusters, and a state reminiscent of a Wigner glass. Varying the interactions, we find a continuous crossover between the Wigner and cluster glassy states, and a sharp discontinuous transition between the Wigner glassy state and gel. Our results suggest that a balance between repulsions and attractions controls the nature of dynamic arrest of these glassy states.