Investigation of Structure and Dynamics in Disordered Materials Using Containerless Techniques with In-Situ Quantum Beam and Thermophysical Property Measurements

Abstract

The use of levitation (containerless) techniques can enable new scientific discoveries because deeply undercooled and metastable liquids can be achieved over a wide temperature range. This review article summarizes the state-of-art instrumentation for structure measurements at synchrotron radiation/neutron sources and for thermophysical property measurements not only on the ground but also in microgravity utilizing the International Space Station (ISS). Furthermore, we introduce recent scientific topics on high-temperature oxide liquids and oxide glasses synthesized from levitated undercooled liquids by the use of quantum beam measurements analyzed using advanced computation.

Keywords

• quantum beams
• aerodynamic levitation
• acoustic levitation
• electrostatic levitation
• containerless technique
• high-temperature liquids
• thermophysical properties
• synchrotron X-ray diffraction
• neutron diffraction
• structure of glasses and liquids