The kinetic glass transition of the Zr46.75Ti8.25Cu7.5Ni10Be27.5 bulk metallic glass former-supercooled liquids on a long time scale

Viscosity and enthalpy relaxation from the amorphous state into the supercooled liquid state was investigated in the bulk metallic glass forming Zr46.75Ti8.25Cu7.5Ni10Be27.5 alloy below the calorimetric glass transition. At different temperatures, the viscosities relax into states that obey the same Vogel–Fulcher–Tammann relation as the data obtained at higher temperatures in the supercooled liquid. Enthalpy recovery experiments after relaxation in the same temperature range show that the enthalpy of the material reaches values that also corresponds to the supercooled liquid state. The glass relaxes into a metastable supercooled liquid state, if it is observed on a long time scale. Equilibration is possible far below the calorimetric glass transition and very likely even below the isentropic temperature

Change of Compressiblity at the Glass Transition and Prigogine-Defay Ratio in ZrTiCuNiBe Alloys

The change of the compressibility at the glass transition Tg is evaluated from pressure experiments in the liquid and the glassy state of the ZrTiCuNiBe bulk metallic glass forming system. Via the enthalpy recovery method, we derive an increase of Tg with pressure of 3.6 K/GPa. Comparing the changes of the compressibility, the specific heat capacity, and the thermal expansion coefficient at Tg, we estimate for the first time a Prigogine-Defay ratio in metallic systems. This ratio is about 2.4 for the present alloy and compares well with known nonmetallic glass forming systems

Generating single-mode behavior in fiber-coupled optical cavities

We propose to turn two resonant distant cavities effectively into one by coupling them via an optical fiber which is coated with two-level atoms [Franson et al., Phys. Rev. A 70, 062302 (2004)]. The purpose of the atoms is to destructively measure the evanescent electric field of the fiber on a time scale which is long compared to the time it takes a photon to travel from one cavity to the other. Moreover, the boundary conditions imposed by the setup should support a small range of standing waves inside the fiber, including one at the frequency of the cavities. In this way, the fiber provides an additional decay channel for one common cavity field mode but not for the other. If the corresponding decay rate is sufficiently large, this mode decouples effectively from the system dynamics. A single non-local resonator mode is created.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, final version, accepted for publicatio

Thermodynamics and kinetics of the Mg65Cu25Y10 bulk metallic glass forming liquid

The thermodynamics and kinetics of the bulk metallic glass forming Mg65Cu25Y10 liquid were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry and three-point beam bending. The experiments lead to the determination of the thermodynamic functions as well as the viscosity of the supercooled liquid. The viscosity shows a temperature dependence, which is consistent with that of a strong glass similar to Zr–Ti–Cu–Ni–Be bulk metallic glasses or sodium silicate glasses. This contrasts with more fragile conventional metallic glass formers or pure metals. The relatively weak temperature dependence of the thermodynamic functions of the supercooled liquid is related to these sluggish kinetics in the supercooled liquid. Entropy, viscosity, and kinetic glass transition are compared in the frameworks of the fragility concept and the Adam–Gibbs theory. Strong liquid behavior retards the formation of crystals kinetically and thermodynamically

The effect of silicon on the glass forming ability of the Cu47Ti34Zr11Ni8 bulk metallic glass forming alloy during processing of composites

Composites of the Cu47Ti34Zr11Ni8 bulk metallic glass, reinforced with up to 30 vol % SiC particles are synthesized and characterized. Results based on x-ray diffraction, optical microscopy, scanning Auger microscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) are presented. During processing of the composites, a TiC layer forms around the SiC particles and Si diffuses into the Cu47Ti34Zr11Ni8 matrix stabilizing the supercooled liquid against crystallization. The small Si addition between 0.5 and 1 at. % increases the attainable maximum thickness of glassy ingots from 4 mm for Cu–Ti–Zr–Ni alloys to 7 mm for Cu–Ti–Zr–Ni–Si alloys. DSC analyses show that neither the thermodynamics nor the kinetics of the alloy are affected significantly by the Si addition. This suggests that Si enhances the glass forming ability by chemically passivating impurities such as oxygen and carbon that cause heterogeneous nucleation in the melt

Decomposition and primary crystallization in undercooled Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10.0Be22.5 melts

Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10.0Be22.5 bulk metallic glasses were prepared by cooling the melt with a rate of about 10 K/s and investigated with respect to their chemical and structural homogeneity by atom probe field ion microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The measurements on these slowly cooled samples reveal that the alloy exhibits phase separation in the undercooled liquid state. Significant composition fluctuations are found in the Be and Zr concentration but not in the Ti, Cu, and Ni concentration. The decomposed microstructure is compared with the microstructure obtained upon primary crystallization, suggesting that the nucleation during primary crystallization of this bulk glass former is triggered by the preceding diffusion controlled decomposition in the undercooled liquid state

Uncertainty reconciles complementarity with joint measurability

The fundamental principles of complementarity and uncertainty are shown to be related to the possibility of joint unsharp measurements of pairs of noncommuting quantum observables. A new joint measurement scheme for complementary observables is proposed. The measured observables are represented as positive operator valued measures (POVMs), whose intrinsic fuzziness parameters are found to satisfy an intriguing pay-off relation reflecting the complementarity. At the same time, this relation represents an instance of a Heisenberg uncertainty relation for measurement imprecisions. A model-independent consideration show that this uncertainty relation is logically connected with the joint measurability of the POVMs in question.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX. Title of previous version: "Complementarity and uncertainty - entangled in joint path-interference measurements". This new version focuses on the "measurement uncertainty relation" and its role, disentangling this issue from the special context of path interference duality. See also http://www.vjquantuminfo.org (October 2003

Unsharp Quantum Reality

The positive operator (valued) measures (POMs) allow one to generalize the notion of observable beyond the traditional one based on projection valued measures (PVMs). Here, we argue that this generalized conception of observable enables a consistent notion of unsharp reality and with it an adequate concept of joint properties. A sharp or unsharp property manifests itself as an element of sharp or unsharp reality by its tendency to become actual or to actualize a specific measurement outcome. This actualization tendency-or potentiality-of a property is quantified by the associated quantum probability. The resulting single-case interpretation of probability as a degree of reality will be explained in detail and its role in addressing the tensions between quantum and classical accounts of the physical world will be elucidated. It will be shown that potentiality can be viewed as a causal agency that evolves in a well-defined way

Vortex Dynamics in Anisotropic Traps

We investigate the dynamics of linear vortex lattices in anisotropic traps in two-dimensions and show that the interplay between the rotation and the anisotropy leads to a rich but highly regular dynamics.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Experimental determination of a time–temperature-transformation diagram of the undercooled Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10.0Be22.5 alloy using the containerless electrostatic levitation processing technique

High temperature high vacuum electrostatic levitation was used to determine the complete time–temperature–transformation (TTT) diagram of the Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10.0Be22.5 bulk metallic glass forming alloy in the undercooled liquid state. This is the first report of experimental data on the crystallization kinetics of a metallic system covering the entire temperature range of the undercooled melt down to the glass transition temperature. The measured TTT diagram exhibits the expected "C" shape. Existing models that assume polymorphic crystallization cannot satisfactorily explain the experimentally obtained TTT diagram. This originates from the complex crystallization mechanisms that occur in this bulk glass-forming system, involving large composition fluctuations prior to crystallization as well as phase separation in the undercooled liquid state below 800 K