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Flash melting amorphous ice.

Authors :
Mowry, Nathan J.
Krüger, Constantin R.
Bongiovanni, Gabriele
Drabbels, Marcel
Lorenz, Ulrich J.
Source :
Journal of Chemical Physics; 5/14/2024, Vol. 160 Issue 18, p1-6, 6p
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

Water can be vitrified if it is cooled at high rates, which makes it possible to outrun crystallization in so-called no man's land, a range of deeply supercooled temperatures where water crystallizes rapidly. Here, we study the reverse process in pure water samples by flash melting amorphous ice with microsecond laser pulses. Time-resolved electron diffraction reveals that the sample transiently crystallizes despite a heating rate of more than 5 × 10<superscript>6</superscript> K/s, even though under the same conditions, vitrification can be achieved with a similar cooling rate of 10<superscript>7</superscript> K/s. Moreover, we observe different crystallization kinetics for amorphous solid water and hyperquenched glassy water. These experiments open up new avenues for elucidating the crystallization mechanism of water and studying its dynamics in no man's land. They also add important insights into the laser melting and revitrification processes that are integral to the emerging field of microsecond time-resolved cryo-electron microscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00219606
Volume :
160
Issue :
18
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Journal of Chemical Physics
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
177227155
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0202948