PhD position: Dr Amelia Liu

Glasses are a mystery that confounds modern condensed matter physics, yet disordered, glassy assemblies form from particles at many length sclaes (granules, colloids, atoms). My research aims to uncover the role of structure in the glass transition and how the disordered structure of a glass gives rise to unique glass behaviour such as ageing and brittle mechanical failure. Unlike crystals which possess translational symmetry, the role of structure and symmetry in glasses is not established. This research programme involves the development of new x-ray and electron diffraction-based methods to understand glass structures. Students in my team will be able to perform measurements at the Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy or the Australian Synchrotron. They will have the opportunity to collaborate with leading researchers in glass science/engineering and diffraction physics/crystallography in Australia and around the world.

• "Local structure and symmetry in metallic glasses" (with Dr Scott Findlay and Dr Tim Petersen (MCEM))
• "Flow defects and localisation of strain in hard-sphere glasses" (with Dr Tim Petersen (MCEM))
• "Localisation of excitations and relaxations in glasses" (with Dr Tim Petersen (MCEM))
• "Frustration and complexity in glasses" (with A/Prof Kavan Modi)
• "Local structures in soft colloidal materials with anisotropic particles" (with A/Prof Rico Tabor (Chemistry))

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For further details or alternative project arrangements, please contact: [email protected].