Article abstract


Nature Physics 2, 414 - 418 (2006)
doi:10.1038/nphys313

Subject Categories: Statistical physics, thermodynamics and nonlinear dynamics | Materials physics

Annealed high-density amorphous ice under pressure

Richard J. Nelmes1, John S. Loveday1, Thierry Strässle2, Craig L. Bull1, Malcolm Guthrie1, Gérard Hamel2 and Stefan Klotz2


The well-known expansion of water on cooling below 277 K is one of several peculiar properties that could signal a second critical point near 220 K and 0.1 GPa in pressure, deep in the supercooled liquid phase. Evidence for this would be a first-order transition line between two distinct supercooled liquids at temperatures below the critical point. As that lies below the minimum crystallization temperature, experimental tests have instead used low- and high-density amorphous ices—LDA and HDA—as proxies for the supercooled liquids. But numerous studies over the past decade have not yielded a clear consensus about the nature of the HDA/LDA transition. Here we identify a previously uncharacterized state of high-density amorphous ice obtained if HDA is annealed at pressures near 2 kbar. The transition between this annealed HDA and LDA is strikingly different from the behaviour found in earlier work, in a way that favours the two-liquid model.

Top
  1. SUPA, School of Physics and Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions, University of Edinburgh, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, UK
  2. Physique des Milieux Denses, IMPMC, CNRS-UMR 7590, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 75252 Paris, France

Correspondence to: Richard J. Nelmes1 e-mail: r.j.nelmes@ed.ac.uk

Correspondence to: John S. Loveday1 e-mail: j.loveday@ed.ac.uk

Correspondence to: Thierry Strässle2 Present address: Laboratory for Neutron Scattering, ETH Zürich and Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Condensed-matter physics Dense ice in detail

Nature News and Views (19 Dec 2002)

Condensed matter One substance, two liquids?

Nature News and Views (12 Mar 1998)

See all 6 matches for News And Views

Extra navigation

Subscribe to Nature Physics

Subscribe

Open Innovation Challenges

  • Corrosion Inhibitor

    • Deadline: Aug 19 2009
    • Reward: $10,000 USD

    The Seeker is looking for inhibitors of corrosion. This Challenge requires only a written descripti...

  • Mitigating Zinc Corrosion

    • Deadline: Aug 23 2009
    • Reward: $20,000 USD

    The Seeker is looking for novel methods to mitigate zinc corrosion/gassing in alkaline media. This ...

naturejobs

ADVERTISEMENT