Extremely Dilute Lyotropic 3D Crystalline Phase in a Water/Oil/Surfactant/Cosurfactant Mixture

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Abstract
In a system made of water/NaCl/octane/sodium dodecylsulphate/octanol we found a very dilute phase exhibiting a long range order in addition to classical microemulsion phases. Light and high resolution x-ray scattering show that this dilute phase exhibits three-dimensional order. Repeat distances as large as 2200 Å can be measured with both light and x-ray scattering. The crystalline phase appears upon swelling a microemulsion phase with oil. All the experimental parameters seem to vary continuously from the microemulsion to this crystalline phase.