The effect of a nonspherical particle shape and shape polydispersity on the structure of densely packed hard colloidal particles was studied in real space by confocal microscopy. We show that the first layer at the wall of concentrated size-monodisperse but shape-polydisperse polyhedral colloids exhibits significant deviations from a hexagonal lattice. These deviations are identified as bond-orientational fluctuations which lead to percolating “mismatch lines.” While the shape-induced geometrical frustration of the hexagonal symmetry suppresses translational order, bond-orientational order is clearly retained, indicating a hexaticlike structure of the polyhedral colloids.

• Received 17 January 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.028304