Fractional diffusion in silicon.

Zijlstra, Eeuwe S; Kalitsov, Alan; Zier, Tobias; Garcia, Martin E · Adv Mater · 2013

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Microscopic processes leading to ultrafast laser-induced melting of silicon are investigated by large-scale ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Before becoming a liquid, the atoms are shown to be fractionally diffusive, which is a property that has so far been observed in crowded fluids consisting of large molecules. Here, it is found to occur in an elemental semiconductor.