X-ray diffraction from levitated liquids

The ability of containerless techniques to access very high liquid temperatures, maintain specimen purity, enable control of specimen chemistry and access the supercooled state has created new opportunities to study high-temperature liquids with a very high degree of control. Recently, these have been combined with x-ray diffraction at synchrotron sources to provide structural information not previously available. This article reviews and summarizes recent results obtained from x-ray diffraction on levitated liquid materials in both the normal and supercooled states. In particular, it addresses the effects of supercooling on the short-range structure, including interatomic distances and coordinations, of several high-temperature molten oxides, semiconductors and metallic materials. The properties of these liquids are discussed in the context of available molecular dynamics simulations and thermophysical property data.