Evidence for a simple monatomic ideal glass former: The thermodynamic glass transition from a stable liquid phase

Under cooling, a liquid can undergo a transition to the glassy state either as a result of a continuous slowing down or by a first-order polyamorphous phase transition. The second scenario has so far always been observed in a metastable liquid domain below the melting point where crystalline nucleat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of chemical physics 2010-11, Vol.133 (17), p.174502-174502-7
Main Authors: Elenius, Måns, Oppelstrup, Tomas, Dzugutov, Mikhail
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
CRYSTAL NUCLEATION
Fysik
INSIGHTS
NATURAL SCIENCES
NATURVETENSKAP
ORDER
Physics
POTENTIALS
SUPERCOOLED LIQUIDS
SYSTEMS
TEMPERATURE
WATER
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Summary:Under cooling, a liquid can undergo a transition to the glassy state either as a result of a continuous slowing down or by a first-order polyamorphous phase transition. The second scenario has so far always been observed in a metastable liquid domain below the melting point where crystalline nucleation interfered with the glass formation. We report the first observation of the liquid-glass transition by a first-order polyamorphous phase transition from the equilibrium stable liquid phase. The observation was made in a molecular dynamics simulation of a one-component system with a model metallic pair potential. In this way, the model, demonstrating the thermodynamic glass transition from a stable liquid phase, may be regarded as a candidate for a simple monatomic ideal glass former. This observation is of conceptual importance in the context of continuing attempts to resolve the long-standing Kauzmann paradox. The possibility of a thermodynamic glass transition from an equilibrium melt in a metallic system also indicates a new strategy for the development of bulk metallic glass-forming alloys.
ISSN:0021-9606
1089-7690
1089-7690
DOI:10.1063/1.3493456