Structural Parameter of Orientational Order to Predict the Boson Vibrational Anomaly in Glasses

J. Yang, Yun-Jiang Wang, E. Ma, A. Zaccone, L. H. Dai, and M. Q. Jiang
Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 015501 – Published 4 January 2019
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Abstract

It has so far remained a major challenge to quantitatively predict the boson peak, a THz vibrational anomaly universal for glasses, from features in the amorphous structure. Using molecular dynamics simulations of a model Cu50Zr50 glass, we decompose the boson peak to contributions from atoms residing in different types of Voronoi polyhedra. We then introduce a microscopic structural parameter to depict the “orientational order,” using the vector pointing from the center atom to the farthest vertex of its Voronoi coordination polyhedron. This order parameter represents the most probable direction of transverse vibration at low frequencies. Its magnitude scales linearly with the boson peak intensity, and its spatial distribution accounts for the quasilocalized modes. This correlation is shown to be universal for different types of glasses.

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  • Received 1 July 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.015501

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

  1. Research Areas
  1. Physical Systems
Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

J. Yang1,2, Yun-Jiang Wang1,2,*, E. Ma3, A. Zaccone4,5,6, L. H. Dai1,2, and M. Q. Jiang1,2,†

  • 1State Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People’s Republic of China
  • 2School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, People’s Republic of China
  • 3Department of Materials Science and Engineering, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
  • 4Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3RA, United Kingdom
  • 5Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 9HE, United Kingdom
  • 6Department of Physics, University of Milan, via Celoria 16, Milano 20133, Italy.

  • *yjwang@imech.ac.cn
  • mqjiang@imech.ac.cn

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Issue

Vol. 122, Iss. 1 — 11 January 2019

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