Abstract:
The microscopic underpinnings of glasses and the glass transition continue to remain
one of the grand challenges in condensed matter physics.13 It is well known that
when a liquid is cooled slowly, at its freezing temperature, Tf , it transforM.S. to a
crystalline state (Figure 1.1). However, if the same liquid is cooled rapidly, crystal-
lization can be bypassed at Tf and the liquid can be supercooled and with further
supercooling, at glass transition temperature, Tg, the liquid falls out of equilibrium
(Figure 1.1). Associated with this transition, there is onset of an elastic modulus
with almost no discernible change in structure. The system below Tg is called glass.
