@misc{liu2026percolationdrivenbetarelaxationenables,

title = {Percolation-driven β -relaxation enables resonant acceleration of crystallization in amorphous phase-change materials},

author = {Yu-Yao Liu and Liang Gao and Jun-Ying Jiang and Yiming Zhou and Jan Luebben and Di Zhao and Xiaoling Lu and Maximilian J. Müller and Ulrich Boettger and Jiang-Jing Wang and Hai-Bin Yu and Shuai Wei},

url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.01559},

year  = {2026},

date = {2026-03-02},

urldate = {2026-03-02},

abstract = {Amorphous phase-change materials enable fast and reversible switching in optical and electronic devices, yet crystallization kinetics are still controlled primarily through empirical thermal protocols. Here we identify a microscopic picture governing crystallization in the prototypical phase-change material Ge2Sb2Te5, in which crystallization pathways are organized by the percolation of mobile atomic networks associated with β-relaxation. We show that this percolation transition distinguishes the dominance of diffusion-driven and diffusionless nucleation and growth during crystallization processes. We further demonstrate that frequency-selected ultrasonic excitation, applied in conjunction with heating, accelerates crystallization by enhancing percolation-mediated atomic dynamics. This acceleration is maximized near the β-relaxation frequency, consistent with resonant excitation of mobile atoms. Our results establish a direct link between glassy relaxation, atomic-scale percolation, and crystallization, and introduce a new route to modulating phase-change kinetics through targeted excitation of fundamental glassy dynamics.},

keywords = {Crystallization kinetics, openQCM Q-1, Percolation, Phase-change materials, Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM), Ultrasonic excitation, β-relaxation},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {misc}

}