{"title":"Plasticky ice","authors":"Debarchan Das","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-02891-z","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Discrepancies between previous experimental and simulation results had led researchers to question the existence of this phase. The main difficulty lay in detecting this distinct phase transition, which is primarily governed by changes in hydrogen dynamics rather than by structural transformation. To circumvent this issue, the team investigated the dynamics of water using quasi-elastic neutron scattering measurements, which link the broadening in the incident neutron spectrum to the molecular motion in the sample. Rescigno and colleagues performed these experiments in the temperature range 450–600 K and at pressures of up to 6 GPa.</p><p>The results demonstrated that, under these conditions, water ice adopts a body-centred cubic structure. Furthermore, the team showed that water molecules exhibit liquid-like rotational motion on the picosecond timescale while maintaining their crystalline structure. Therefore, the overall signal revealed a crystalline structure combined with active molecular motion, which are the key characteristics of the plastic ice VII phase.</p>","PeriodicalId":19100,"journal":{"name":"Nature Physics","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":17.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature Physics","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-02891-z","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PHYSICS, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Discrepancies between previous experimental and simulation results had led researchers to question the existence of this phase. The main difficulty lay in detecting this distinct phase transition, which is primarily governed by changes in hydrogen dynamics rather than by structural transformation. To circumvent this issue, the team investigated the dynamics of water using quasi-elastic neutron scattering measurements, which link the broadening in the incident neutron spectrum to the molecular motion in the sample. Rescigno and colleagues performed these experiments in the temperature range 450–600 K and at pressures of up to 6 GPa.
The results demonstrated that, under these conditions, water ice adopts a body-centred cubic structure. Furthermore, the team showed that water molecules exhibit liquid-like rotational motion on the picosecond timescale while maintaining their crystalline structure. Therefore, the overall signal revealed a crystalline structure combined with active molecular motion, which are the key characteristics of the plastic ice VII phase.
以前的实验结果和模拟结果之间的差异导致研究人员质疑这一阶段的存在。主要困难在于如何检测这种明显的相变，因为它主要受氢动力学变化而非结构转变的影响。为了规避这一问题，研究小组利用准弹性中子散射测量来研究水的动力学，这种测量方法将入射中子光谱的拓宽与样品中的分子运动联系起来。Rescigno 及其同事在 450-600 K 的温度范围和高达 6 GPa 的压力下进行了这些实验。结果表明，在这些条件下，水冰采用了体心立方结构。此外，研究小组还发现，水分子在保持晶体结构的同时，在皮秒时间尺度上表现出类似液体的旋转运动。因此，整体信号显示出结晶结构与活跃的分子运动相结合，这正是塑性冰 VII 相的主要特征。
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