| Abstract Scope |
Silicate glasses exhibit a wide range of properties. To understand, tune, and enhance glasses’ properties, one needs to decode the “glass genome,”, to uncover how basic structural features control glass’ macroscopic properties—as DNA governs a given individual’s characteristics. This requires as a prerequisite the accurate knowledge of the atomic structure of silicate glasses.Experiments typically offer indirect signatures of the three-dimensional atomic structure of glasses. Although molecular dynamics simulations offer direct access to glasses’ structure, they come with their shortcomings. We present force-enhanced atomic refinement as a powerful modeling technique to unveil the 3D structure of glasses. We demonstrate that FEAR yields glass structures that exhibit improved thermodynamic stability compared to MD, but an unmatched level of agreement with experimental data. We show how with FEAR allows us to solve several puzzles in glass science, including how the atomic structure of glasses governs their response to changes in temperature and pressure. |