Observation of a Metastability Limit in Liquid Gallium
Abstract
We report neutron-scattering measurements on highly supercooled liquid gallium droplets showing a vanishing quasi-elastic frequency width as the temperature is reduced. The width tends towards zero at a temperature within 1 standard deviation of the value TL=150+/-1 K at which gallium is always observed to become crystalline. This suggests the interpretation of TL as a metastability limit, below which the liquid state becomes unstable with respect to infinitesimal fluctuations.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- December 1975
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.35.1652
- Bibcode:
- 1975PhRvL..35.1652B