Reorganization and Growth of Metastable α-N₂ Critical Nuclei into Stable β-N₂ Crystals

We report on results on the crystal nucleation and growth of nitrogen. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we show that while nucleation proceeds into the metastable α-phase (i.e., the crystalline phase associated with the lowest free energy barrier of formation), growth of the crystallite proceeds through a reorganization of the nucleus into the thermodynamically stable β-phase.