Research impact

Glass formation

Virtually all liquids can undergo a transition toward a glassy (i.e. amorphous solid) phase when cooled to below their melting temperature.

Virtually all liquids can undergo a transition toward a glassy (i.e. amorphous solid) phase when cooled to below their melting temperature. Remarkably, while this phenomenon has been experimentally known for centuries and is exploited in a wealth of applications, understanding the physics behind the glass transition still stands out as “the deepest and most interesting unsolved problem in solid state theory”. We work on the development of a novel microscopic theory that can accurately predict the complex dynamics of glass-forming materials on a strictly first-principles basis, providing a promising new framework to elucidate various poorly understood glassy phenomena.