Related papers: Exploring structural mechanisms in disordered mate…
We show numerically that a three-dimensional model for structural glass displays aging, rejuvenation and memory effects when submitted to a temperature cycle. These effects indicate that the free energy landscape of structural glasses may…
Atomistic deformation simulations in the nominally elastic regime are performed for a model binary glass with strain rates as low as $10^{4}$/sec (corresponding to 0.01 shear strain per 1$\mu$sec). A robust elasticity is revealed that…
The structural relaxations of a dense, binary mixture of charged hard spheres are studied using the Mode Coupling Theory (MCT). Qualitative differences to non--ionic systems are shown to result from the long--range Coulomb interaction and…
Understanding, predicting and eventually improving the resistance to fracture of silicate materials is of primary importance to design new glasses that would be tougher, while retaining their transparency. However, the atomic mechanism of…
We present a first-principles method for relaxing a material's geometry in an optically excited state. This method, based on the Bethe-Salpeter equation, consists of solving coupled equations for exciton wavefunctions and atomic…
When stressed sufficiently, solid materials yield and deform plastically via reorganization of microscopic constituents. Indeed, it is possible to alter the micro-structure of materials by judicious application of stress, an empirical pro-…
We use machine learning methods on local structure to identify flow defects - or regions susceptible to rearrangement - in jammed and glassy systems. We apply this method successfully to two disparate systems: a two dimensional experimental…
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…
It is now possible to routinely perform atomistic simulations at the microsecond timescale. In the present work, we exploit this for a model binary Lennard-Jones glass to study structural relaxation at a timescale spanning up to 80…
A wide range of glassy and disordered materials exhibit complex, non-exponential, structural relaxation (aging). We propose a simple nonlinear rate equation d\delta/dt = a [1-exp (b\delta)], where '\delta' is the normalized deviation of a…
Global optimization of crystal compositions is a significant yet computationally intensive method to identify stable structures within chemical space. The specific physical properties linked to a three-dimensional atomic arrangement make…
Structural, vibrational and thermal properties of densified sodium silicate (NS2) are investigated with classical molecular dynamics simulations of the glass and the liquid state. A systematic investigation of the glass structure with…
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…
In this letter, we develop a framework to study the mechanical response of athermal amorphous solids via a coupling of mesoscale and microscopic models. Using measurements of coarse grained quantities from simulations of dense disordered…
Self- and cross-correlation dynamics of deeply supercooled liquids were recently identified using photon correlation spectroscopy and spin relaxometry on the one hand, and using dielectric investigations on the other. These results fueled a…
Disordered systems like liquids, gels, glasses, or granular materials are not only ubiquitous in daily life and in industrial applications but they are also crucial for the mechanical stability of cells or the transport of chemical and…
Amorphous silica deforms viscoplastically at elevated temperatures, as is common for brittle glasses. The key mechanism of viscoplastic deformation involves interatomic bond switching, which is known to be a thermally activated process. In…
The influence of variable-amplitude loading on the potential energy and mechanical properties of amorphous materials is investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. We study a binary mixture that is either rapidly or slowly cooled…
While deeply supercooled liquids exhibit divergent viscosity and increasingly heterogeneous dynamics as the temperature drops, their structure shows only seemingly marginal changes. Understanding the nature of relaxation processes in this…
This work targets the influence of disorder on the relaxed structure and macroscopic mechanical properties of elastic networks. We construct network classes of different types of disorder (length, topology and stiffness), which are…