Title: Structural Studies of Liquids and Glasses Using Aerodynamic Levitation
Description: This thesis presents neutron scattering data that contribute to the understanding of four distinct areas of condensed matter physics, including iso-compositional liquid-liquid phase transitions and the glass formation in rare earth doped BaTi2O5. In situ aerodynamic levitation with laser heating was combined with neutron scattering in order to study both liquid-liquid phase transitions in (Y2O3)x(Al2O3)1-x, and the atomic and magnetic ordering in liquid Invar. Among several significant results, obtained in this case from small angle neutron scattering, was the absence of a phase transition across a range of temperatures and compositions in the yttria aluminates.  As these are a principal system in which liquid-liquid phase transitions have been hypothesized, this is an important contribution in a contentious area.
Subjects: Condensed matter, Glass, Physics, Phase Transitions and Multiphase Systems, Laser Matter Interaction Atoms and Molecules in Strong Fields, Ceramics, Glass, Composites, Natural Methods, Measurement Science and Instrumentation