The Glass Transition in Normal and Exceptional Glassformers

该项目侧重于玻璃成型液体。 它包括通过一阶液-液相变形成不寻常性质的玻璃的研究，以测试存在一类具有非典型振动特性的异常低熵的玻璃质材料（近似“完美玻璃”）的可能性。 它还包括探索通过使用麦克斯韦随机连接的自由接合板条方法，利用刚性分子板条在枢轴点处化学连接，来创建一类（非）多孔的，因此重量轻的玻璃的可能性。 这些新项目将与各种新颖的研究相结合，解决粘性液体玻璃形成剂的常规体。 这里的新奇的一个来源来自于认识到，液体的构型激发，它通常是连续的进展，一旦玻璃化转变温度已经通过，可以发生在不同的阶段，如果分子间的相互作用有不均匀的组件。 该项目的主要目的是寻求对玻璃化转变物理学的更深入理解。 “强”和“脆”液体和塑性晶体之间的分子水平的区别，一方面和“结构”玻璃形成者之间的区别，以及固态物理学的各种自旋玻璃，偶极玻璃等，另一方面将被探索。 该项目还将解决玻璃形成液体和生物分子之间的关系，或者使用玻璃形成液体保存生物分子，研究单个分子中折叠之间的关系。（蛋白质）和两层激发过程在更简单的系统，以及复杂系统中的成核现象与膜蛋白异常折叠成与“疯牛病”有关的新形式之间的可能联系。疾病及其人类疾病亲属将继续。%在纳米水平上描述固体的无定形状态，在先进材料技术的许多领域，包括聚合物，金属，药物和生物材料中处于中心地位。 对非晶态及其制备和稳定的理解将为合成具有独特性能的新型材料提供新的途径。

This project focuses on glassforming liquids. It includes a study of formation of glasses of unusual properties via first order liquid-liquid phase transitions to test the possibility that there exists a class of vitreous materials of unusually low entropy (appromixating "perfect glasses"), with atypical vibrational characteristics. It also includes exploring the possibilty of creating a class of (variably) porous, hence lightweight, glasses by using the Maxwell randomly-connected freely-joited slats approach, with rigid molecular slats chemically linked at pivot points. These new project will be blended with a variety of novel studies addressing conventional body of visocous liquid glassformers. One source of novelty here comes from the recognition that the configurational excitation of liquids, which usually progresses continuously once the glass transition temperature has been passed, can occur in distinct stages if the intermolecular interactions have inhomogeneous components. The major thrust of the project involves a search for deeper understanding of the physics of the glass transition. The molecular level distinction between "strong" and "fragile" liquids and plastic crystals, on the one hand and the distinction between "structural" glassformers on the one hand, and the various spin glasses, dipole glasses, etc of solid state physics, on the other will be explored. The project will also address the relation between glassforming liquids and biomolecules and, alternatively the use of glassforming liquids to preserve biomolecules studies of the relation between folding in individual molecules(proteins) and two-tier excitation processes in simpler systems, and possible links between the nucleation phenomenon in complex systems and the aberrant folding of membrane proteins to new forms involved in "mad cow" disease and its human disease relatives will continued.%%%Describing at the nanometer level the amorphous state of solids in central to many areas of advanced materials technologies that include polymers, metals, pharmaceuticals and biomaterials. An understanding of the amorphous state and how it is prepared and stabilized will lead to new routes for synthesizing novel materials with unique properties.