Related papers: Low-temperature structural study of smectic C$_A$*…
We report results from X-ray scattering studies of the angular structure factor of liquid crystal hexatic-B films. According to the sixfold rotational symmetry of the hexatic-B phase, its characteristic scattering splits into six…
We show that discotics, lying deep in the columnar phase, can exhibit an x-ray scattering pattern which mimics that of a somewhat unusual smectic liquid crystal. This exotic, new glassy phase of columnar liquid crystals, which we call a…
We studied a set of float glass samples prepared with different fictive temperature by previous annealing around the glass transition temperature. We compared the results to previous measurements on a series of amorphous silica samples,…
Using optical microscopy, phase shifting interferometry and atomic force microscopy, we demonstrate the existence of undulated structures in the meniscus of ferroelectric smectic-C* films. The meniscus is characterized by a periodic…
We use coherent X-rays to probe the aging dynamics of a metallic glass directly on the atomic level. Contrary to the common assumption of a steady slowing down of the dynamics usually observed in macroscopic studies, we show that the…
Characterizing the glass state remains elusive since its distinction from a liquid state is not obvious. Glasses are liquids whose viscosity has increased so much that they cannot flow. Accordingly there have been many attempts to define a…
We implement a technique to characterize the electromagnetic properties at frequencies 100 to 165 GHz (3 cm$^{-1}$ to 4.95 cm$^{-1}$) of oriented smectite samples using an open cavity resonator connected to a sub-millimeter wave VNA (Vector…
Densified silica can be obtained by different pressure and temperature paths and for different stress conditions, hydrostatic or including shear. The density is usually the macroscopic parameter used to characterize the different compressed…
Using molecular dynamics simulation, we study structural and dynamical heterogeneities at melting in two-dimensional one-component systems with 36000 particles. Between crystal and liquid we find intermediate hexatic states, where the…
The structural evolution with temperature of pure silica (SiO2), sodium-silicate (5Na2O-95SiO2, 10Na2O-90SiO2 and 25Na2O-75SiO2) and albite (15Na2O-15Al2O3-75SiO2) glasses previously densified from hot compression is monitored with a…
Chiral twisting of the molecular orientation within the layer of a smectic-A liquid crystal has been investigated using circular dichroism spectroscopy. The results indicate that a rotation of the layers away from the alignment direction is…
Framing the glass formation within standard statistical mechanics is an outstanding problem of condensed matter theory. To provide new insight, we investigate the structural properties of the Lennard-Jones fluid in the very-low temperature…
Key aspects of glasses are controlled by the presence of excitations in which a group of particles can rearrange. Surprisingly, recent observations indicate that their density is dramatically reduced and their size decreases as the…
Ab initio molecular dynamic method within the framework of density functional theory is applied to analyze the structural and electronic properties of crystalline molecular hydrogen at temperature 100\,K. Pressure, pair correlation function…
We show that smectic liquid crystals confined in_anisotropic_ porous structures such as e.g.,_strained_ aerogel or aerosil exhibit two new glassy phases. The strain both ensures the stability of these phases and determines their nature. One…
We study light scattering by a hedgehog-like and linear disclination topological defects in a nematic liquid crystal by a metric approach. Light propagating near such defects feels an effective metric equivalent to the spatial part of the…
In amorphous materials, groups of particles can rearrange locally into a new stable configuration. Such elementary excitations are key as they determine the response to external stresses, as well as to thermal and quantum fluctuations. Yet,…
Quench-condensed granular Al films, with normal-state sheet resistance close to 10 k$\Omega/\Box$, display strong hysteresis and ultraslow, non-exponential relaxation in the resistance when temperature is varied below 300 mK. The hysteresis…
Using positional data from video-microscopy of a two-dimensional colloidal system and from simulations of hard discs we determine the wave-vector-dependent normal mode spring constants in the supercooled fluid and glassy state,…
The understanding of glassy dynamics above the devitrification temperature of a glass remains poorly understood. Here, we use real-time AFM imaging to build a spatio-temporal map of the relaxation dynamics of a highly stable glass into its…