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

• 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
• ISSN: 0021-9606; 1089-7690; 1089-7690
• DOI: 10.1063/1.3493456

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.