| abstract | The subject of this thesis is the class of materials known as disordered solids. These solids are also referred to as non-crystalline solids, or amorphous solids or glasses. What these materials have in common is that their structure is not crystalline on any significant scale. The aim of this thesis is to provide insight into the atomic structure of disordered solids via computer simulation. Simply put, we try to find out where the atoms are located with respect to each other. For these materials, experimental techniques alone are not sufficient to determine the structure. As a result, computer simulations are often used.
We describe a number of simulation techniques that allow for the investigation of large systems, containing over 100,000 particles. Moreover, we present a new technique to determine the configurational entropy. |
