Phonons in colloidal crystals

Abstract
The dispersion curves of the phonons propagating in polycrystalline suspensions of hard-sphere colloids are measured by Brillouin scattering and calculated by band struc- ture techniques. Acoustic-like and optical-like experimental phonon dispersion relations are attributed to the interplay of the solvent matrix mode with the single-sphere vibration eigen- modes in these lattice structures.