Structural Origin of Enhanced Dynamics at the Surface of a Glassy Alloy

The enhancement of mobility at the surface of an amorphous alloy is studied using a combination of molecular dynamic simulations and normal mode analysis of the nonuniform distribution of Debye-Waller factors. The increased mobility at the surface is found to be associated with the appearance of Arrhenius temperature dependence. We show that the transverse Debye-Waller factor exhibits a peak at the surface. Over the accessible temperature range, we find that the bulk and surface diffusion coefficients obey the same empirical relationship with the respective Debye-Waller factors. Extrapolating this relationship to lower T, we argue that the observed decrease in the constraint at the surface is sufficient to account for the experimentally observed surface enhancement of mobility.