Pressure induced liquid-liquid transition in metallic glass formers

We propose here to investigate the structural changes occurring in different Pd42.5Cu27Ni19.5P21 and Pt42.5Cu27Ni19.5P21 metallic glass formers obtained from quenching the corresponding supercooled liquids under different high pressure treatments. Our recent dynamical studies have revealed a surprising acceleration of the atomic motion in these densified glasses which persists even heating the samples in the equilibrium supercooled phase. This behaviour suggests the occurrence of an irreversible pressure-induced liquid-liquid polyamorphic transition during the sample preparation. By combining structural and dynamical data we will be able to identify the structural features responsible for the observed surprising dynamics.