Understanding the liquid structure provides information that is crucial to uncovering the nature of the glass-liquid transition. We apply an aerodynamic levitation technique and high-energy X-rays to liquid (l)-Er₂O₃ to discover its structure. The sample densities are measured by electrostatic levitation at the International Space Station. Liquid Er₂O₃ displays a very sharp diffraction peak (principal peak). Applying a combined reverse Monte Carlo – molecular dynamics approach, the simulations produce an Er–O coordination number of 6.1, which is comparable to that of another nonglass-forming liquid, l-ZrO₂. The atomic structure of l-Er₂O₃ comprises distorted OEr₄ tetraclusters in nearly linear arrangements, as manifested by a prominent peak observed at ~180° in the Er–O–Er bond angle distribution. This structural feature gives rise to long periodicity corresponding to the sharp principal peak in the X-ray diffraction data. A persistent homology analysis suggests that l-Er₂O₃ is homologically similar to the crystalline phase. Moreover, electronic structure calculations show that l-Er₂O₃ has a modest band gap of 0.6 eV that is significantly reduced from the crystalline phase due to the tetracluster distortions. The estimated viscosity is very low above the melting point for l-ZrO₂, and the material can be described as an extremely fragile liquid.

了解液体结构可提供对于揭示玻璃-液体转变的本质至关重要的信息。我们将气动悬浮技术和高能X射线应用于液体（l）-Er ₂ O _3，以发现其结构。样品密度是在国际空间站通过静电悬浮法测量的。液体Er ₂ O ₃显示出非常尖锐的衍射峰（主峰）。应用反向蒙特卡罗-分子动力学组合方法，模拟得出的Er–O配位数为6.1，与另一种非玻璃形成液体l -ZrO ₂相当。l的原子结构-Er ₂ O ₃几乎以线性排列包含扭曲的OEr _4四簇，这在Er–O–Er键角分布的〜180°处观察到了一个突出的峰。该结构特征导致对应于X射线衍射数据中的尖锐主峰的长周期性。持续的同源性分析表明1- Er ₂ O ₃在同源性上与结晶相相似。此外，电子结构计算表明l -Er ₂ O ₃具有四分之一的畸变，具有0.6 eV的适度带隙，该带隙从晶相显着降低。在高于1- ZrO ₂的熔点以上时，估计的粘度非常低，并且该材料可以描述为极易碎的液体。