Relaxation of jammed colloidal suspensions after shear cessation.

The dynamics of heterogeneities in a shear thickening, concentrated colloidal suspension is investigated through speckle visibility spectroscopy, a dynamic light scattering technique recently introduced [P. K. Dixon and D. J. Durian, Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 184302 (2003)]. Formation of shear-induced heterogeneities is observed in the jamming regime, and their relaxation after shear cessation is monitored as a function of the applied shear stress. The relaxation time of these heterogeneities increases when a higher stress is applied.