Ordering of atoms in liquid gallium under pressure

Liquid metals and alloys have exceptional properties that make them suitable for electrical energy storage and generation applications. Low-melting point gallium-based liquid metals are used as heat exchange fluids for cooling integrated electronics and in the manufacture of flexible and reconfigurable electronic devices and soft robotics. Gallium is an enigmatic metal with remarkable physical characteristics including an anomalously low melting point just above room temperature, one of the largest liquid ranges of any element, and a volume contraction on melting similar to that observed for water. In contrast to the regular periodic arrangements of atoms in crystalline solids, the liquid state is characteristically disordered. Liquids can flow and their atoms move chaotically as in a gas. However, unlike a gas, the strong cohesive forces in liquids produce a degree of order on a local scale. Understanding how this order changes at high-pressures and temperatures is important for the development of materials with novel physical properties or for operating under extreme conditions and is key to understanding processes in deep terrestrial and exoplanetary interiors, such as metallic core formation and magnetic field generation.