2017/06/30 by Christopher J. Fullerton, Ludovic Berthier
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1209/0295-5075/119/36003
published as EPL 119, 36003 (2017) · 7 Pages, 6 Figures. Figures 4b) and 5b) updated, revisions to text to improve discussion, missing page numbers added to references, typos corrected
arxiv created 2017/10/12 · arxiv updated 2017/10/18
We use a swap Monte Carlo algorithm to numerically prepare bulk glasses with kinetic stability comparable to that of glass films produced experimentally by physical vapor deposition. By melting these systems into the liquid state, we show that some of our glasses retain their amorphous structures longer than 105 times the equilibrium structural relaxation time. This exceptional kinetic stability cannot be achieved experimentally for bulk materials. We perform simulations at both constant volume and constant pressure to demonstrate that the density mismatch between the ultrastable glass and the equilibrium liquid accounts for a major part of the observed kinetic stability.