Phase transition in liquids

Abstract

With the progress of solid state physics for this quarter century, a number of interesting behaviours in liquids, especially, liquid metals and alloys, liquid semiconductors and compound-forming liquid alloys have experimentally and theoretically been investigated. Above all, the phase transition in liquid Se-Te alloys is one of most important and instinctive phenomena concerned with their structural, thermodynamic and electronic properties, because it appears with increasing temperature only. Recent progress on this interesting phenomenon has been reviewed in detail. Another interesting phenomenon in liquid matters is the so-called p-n transition, which is, more or less, similar to the case of solid semiconductors. Most p-n transitions in polyvalent-chalcogen alloys have been explained in terms of their thermodynamic, structural and electronic points. In addition, phase separations in liquid alloys and liquid mixtures of organic compounds including water are also discussed in terms of concentration-concentration fluctuations.