Eur. Phys. J. B 19, 501-505 (2001)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510170295

Evidence for a compressed fluid phase of Xe clusters

¹ ESRF, European Synchrotron Research Facility, BP 220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex, France
² INFM-OGG, c/o ESRF GILDA CRG, European Synchrotron Research Facility, BP 220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex, France
³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Catania, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia, Unità di Catania, Corso Italia 57, 95129 Catania, Italy

Corresponding author: ^a giuseppe.faraci@ct.infn.it

Received: 4 September 2000
Revised: 13 December 2000
Published online: 15 February 2001

Abstract

We report on the formation and detection of a compressed fluid phase of Xe clusters in as- implanted Si, at room temperature. The simultaneous structural characterization of the Xe clusters and of the Si matrix was performed by X-ray diffraction at grazing incidence coupled with two-dimensional detection; in both cases, the nearest-neighbor distance and the coordination were obtained. In order to investigate the early stage of the atomic inclusion and the cluster segregation, the average compression and size of Xe fluid clusters within the amorphous Si matrix were explained within the simple Hard Sphere model.