The local point symmetry of the short-range order in simple monatomic liquids remains a fundamental open question in condensed-matter science. For more than 40 years it has been conjectured that liquids with centrosymmetric interactions may be composed of icosahedral building blocks. But these proposed mobile, randomly orientated structures have remained experimentally inaccessible owing to the unavoidable averaging involved in scattering experiments, which can therefore determine only the isotropic radial distribution function. Here we overcome this limitation by capturing liquid fragments at a solid-liquid interface, and observing the scattering of totally internally reflected (evanescent) X-rays, which are sensitive only to the liquid structure at the interface. Using this method, we observe five-fold local symmetry in liquid lead adjacent to a silicon wall, and obtain an experimental portrait of the icosahedral fragments that are predicted to occur in all close-packed monatomic liquids. By shedding new light on local bond order in disordered structures such as liquids and glasses, these results should lead to a better microscopic understanding of melting, freezing and supercooling.

Observation of five-fold local symmetry in liquid lead.

Highly accurate x-ray diffraction measurements are presented for the static structure factor $a(q)$ for liquid Na (at 100 and 200 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C) and liquid K (at 65 and 135 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C). A detailed error analysis is presented showing that the over-all root-mean-square error in $a(q)$ never exceeds 2.5% for any value of the momentum transfer $q$ and the relative root-mean-square error in $a(q)$ between different temperatures is always less than 1.5%. We discuss and demonstrate the reliability of the tabulated values for the atomic form factor and the Compton-scattering correction. A brief discussion is included of the relative merits of x-ray vs neutron diffraction for obtaining the static structure factor.

X-Ray Determination of the Static Structure Factor of Liquid Na and K

X-ray diffraction patterns were obtained from liquid noble and transition metals (Cu, Ag, Au, Fe, Co, Ni) at temperatures between melting point mid 1650 °C. After calculating the structure factor (Fourier analysis), the atomic radial distribution function was evaluated from which interatomic distance and coordination number were obtained. Comparing the results with those observed previously by other researchers, adequate agreement was found.



Rontgenbeugungsbilder von flussigen Edelmetallen und Ubergangsmetallen (Cu, Ag, Au, Fe, Co, Ni) wurden bei Temperaturen zwischen dem Schmelzpunkt und 1650 °C erhalten. Durch eine schon mehrfach dargestellte Methode (Fourier-Analyse) wurde der Strukturfaktor in eine radiale Atomverteilungsfunktion transformiert, aus der sich der mittlere Abstand nachster Atome und die Koordinationszahl ergeben. Bei einem Vergleich mit fruher von anderen Autoren angegebenen Daten wurde ausreichende Ubereinstimmung gefunden.

Static Structure of Liquid Noble and Transition Metals by X-Ray Diffraction

The structure of liquids, amorphous solids and solid fast ion conductors

The determination of the structure factor for liquid metals at temperatures up to 1300 °C by means of neutron diffraction techniques is described. Particular attention is given to the corrections which must be applied if reliable structure factors are to be extracted from the measurements, including those for absorption, multiple scattering and inelastic effects. It is concluded that for the heavier elements the neutron method can yield reliable data which are accurate to a few per cent over most of the range of momentum transfer.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3719/1/3/329/pdf

The structure factor for liquid metals I. The application of neutron diffraction techniques

The structure factor for liquid metals at low angles

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The structure factor for liquid metals at low angles