Direct Estimate of the Static Length-Scale Accompanying the Glass Transition

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple, experimentally and computationally accessible method to directly estimate a static length-scale associated with the glass transition, based on vibrational frequency analysis.

Contribution

It proposes a novel approach to measure the static length-scale linked to the glass transition using vibrational frequencies, bridging experimental and simulation studies.

Findings

Identifies a crossing point of vibrational frequencies indicating the length-scale

Shows the length-scale grows as the glass transition approaches

Connects the length-scale to the disorder and elastic response in glasses

Abstract

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 static length-scale associated with the dramatic slowing down of supercooled liquid with decreasing temperature. Here we present a simple method to extract the desired length-scale which is highly accessible both for experiments and for numerical simulations. The fundamental idea is that low lying vibrational frequencies come in two types, those related to elastic response and those determined by plastic instabilities. The minimal observed frequency is determined by one or the other, crossing at a typical length-scale which is growing with the approach of the glass transition. This length-scale characterizes the correlated disorder in the system, where on longer length-scales the details of the disorder become irrelevant, dominated by the Debye model of elastic modes.