Probing the hidden order in glasses

This work aims to explain how materials like glass are structured, one of the most important puzzles in the field of complex physical systems． The atomic packing formula in glass materials is found to correlate with lattice structure and symmetry of their crystalline counterparts, this holds well both in numerical and realistic experimental glass systems． This indicates that structure homology also exists between a glassy solid and its parent crystal, leading us to the proposal that, in the study of glass physics and material science, thinking in terms of homology may open new doors to understanding the nature of atomic structures and structure-property relationships in glass materials．