ISSN:
1434-6079
Keywords:
36.40.+d
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Physics
Notes:
Abstract The (KCl)32 cluster is used as a model system to study the possibilities for clusters to exhibit amorphous or glassy solid forms. The problem has two aspects: first, whether the potential surface of the cluster supports a myriad of locally stable, disordered structures, the ensemble of which would constitute the glassy state, and second, whether an ensemble of amorphous clusters can be prepared under laboratory conditions. Molecular dynamics studies give an emphaticyes to the first issue, and an equally emphaticno to the second, for cooling rates up to 1012 K/s, a thousand-fold faster than the fastest rates yet reported. However, if the long-range Coulomb interaction of the ions is replaced by a shielded Coulomb (Debye or Yukawa) potential, the secondary minima are sufficiently stabilized and the saddles, sufficiently high, that disordered equilibrium structures can be reached by cooling at fast, but still conceivably attainable rates. The implication is that while alkali halide clusters probably cannot form glasses, binary clusters with shorter-range forces, such as those of II–VI and III–V compounds, probably can form glasses. The highly disordered structures of (KCl)32 are perhaps the most disordered forms yet seen for solid matter.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01429136
