Introduction

Many fundamental issues in classical condensed matter physics such as crystallization,liquid structure, phase separation, glassy states, etc. can be addressed experimentally using model systems of individually visible mesoscopic particles (“grains”) playing the role of “proxy atoms”. The interaction between such “atoms” is determined by the properties of the surrounding medium and/or by external “tuning”. The best known examples of such model systems are two different domains of soft matter – complex plasmas and colloidal dispersions …