Probing order within disorder in oxide glasses and liquids by quantum beam diffraction

Abstract

The advent of advanced quantum beam sources such as SPring-8 (synchrotron X-ray source) and J-PARC (spallation neutron source), which produce high-flux high-energy X-rays/neutrons, and advanced instrumentation techniques make it feasible to probe intermediate-range ordering in glasses and liquids. In particular, a combination of quantum-beam measurements and data-driven structure modelling assisted by advanced theory enables us to study both atomistic and electronic structures in glasses and liquids. In this article, recent state-of-the-art research studies on probing the order within disorder in oxide glasses and liquids are reviewed. Furthermore, the application of advanced topological analyses of glasses and liquids to uncovering the hidden ordering in the pairwise correlation is addressed.