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  • Letter
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In pursuit of the tetratic phase in hard rectangles

Denis Dertli and Thomas Speck

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L012034 – Published 13 February, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.L012034

Abstract

We numerically investigate two-dimensional systems of hard rectangles at constant pressure through extensive hard-particle Monte Carlo simulations. We determine the complete phase diagram as a function of packing fraction and aspect ratio, which consists of four distinct phases. At very high packing fractions, particles assemble into a smectic phase for all aspect ratios. Rodlike particles with large aspect ratio assemble into an intervening nematic phase, which is displaced by a “tetratic” phase (also called biaxial nematic) for moderately elongated rectangles. Surprisingly, we find evidence that the transition from tetratic to smectic is weakly discontinuous at variance with previously proposed two-step scenarios for the melting of hard particles.

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L012034– Published 13 February, 2025
  • Received 13 August 2024
  • Accepted 10 January 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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