Compressed correlation functions and fast aging dynamics in metallic glasses

We present x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy measurements of the atomic dynamics in a Zr67Ni33 metallic glass, well below its glass transition temperature. We find that the decay of the density fluctuations can be well described by compressed, thus faster than exponential, correlation functions which can be modeled by the well-known Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts function with a shape exponent beta larger than one. This parameter is furthermore found to be independent of both waiting time and wave-vector, leading to the possibility to rescale all the correlation functions to a single master curve. The dynamics in the glassy state is additionally characterized by different aging regimes which persist in the deep glassy state. These features seem to be universal in metallic glasses and suggest a nondiffusive nature of the dynamics. This universality is supported by the possibility of describing the fast increase of the structural relaxation time with waiting time using a unique model function, independently of the microscopic details of the system. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4790131]