Nanosecond Freezing of Water at High Pressures: Nucleation and Growth near the Metastability Limit.

The fundamental study of phase transition kinetics has motivated experimental methods toward achieving the largest degree of undercooling possible, more recently culminating in the technique of rapid, quasi-isentropic compression. This approach has been demonstrated to freeze water into the high-pressure ice VII phase on nanosecond timescales, with some experiments undergoing heterogeneous nucleation while others, in apparent contradiction, suggest a homogeneous nucleation mode. In this study, we show through a combination of theory, simulation, and analysis of experiments that these seemingly contradictory results are in agreement when viewed from the perspective of classical nucleation theory.