Public lecture

When crystals become disordered

from the amorphisation of minerals to the materials of the future

Crystals fascinate us with their perfect order and symmetry. However, some minerals can lose this order and become amorphous without melting. This lecture explores the processes of solid-state amorphisation, when the structure of a crystal becomes disorganised under the effect of extreme pressures, shock waves, radiation or chemical reactions. We will see how nature produces impact glasses, metamict minerals or amorphous phases in fault zones, how these transformations are reproduced in the laboratory, and why mastering amorphisation is now opening up new perspectives, from understanding astrophysical and geological processes to developing technologies based on switching between crystalline and amorphous states.