The glass transition in high-density amorphous ice

There has been a long controversy regarding the glass transition in low-density amorphous ice (LDA). The central question is whether or not it transforms to an ultraviscous liquid state above 136 K at ambient pressure prior to crystallization. Currently, the most widespread interpretation of the experimental findings is in terms of a transformation to a superstrong liquid above 136 K. In the last decade some work has also been devoted to the study of the glass transition in high-density amorphous ice (HDA) which is in the focus of the present review. At ambient pressure HDA is metastable against both ice I and LDA, whereas at > 0.2 GPa HDA is no longer metastable against LDA, but merely against high-pressure forms of crystalline ice. The first experimental observation interpreted as the glass transition of HDA was made using in situ methods by Mishima, who reported a glass transition temperature T(g) of 160 K at 0.40 GPa. Soon thereafter Andersson and Inaba reported a much lower glass transition temperature of 122 K at 1.0 GPa. Based on the pressure dependence of HDA's T(g) measured in Innsbruck, we suggest that they were in fact probing the distinct glass transition of very high-density amorphous ice (VHDA). Very recently the glass transition in HDA was also observed at ambient pressure at 116 K. That is, LDA and HDA show two distinct glass transitions, clearly separated by about 20 K at ambient pressure. In summary, this suggests that three glass transition lines can be defined in the p–T plane for LDA, HDA, and VHDA.