Self-driven phase transition in an active glass

Glass is a prevalent non-equilibrium state of matter and is distinguished from solid and liquid states by features such as dynamic heterogeneity. Understanding and control of the phase transitions involving glassy states remain fundamental yet challenging issues. Here, we study this question in an active glass system where the glass-to-liquid phase transition is microscopically driven by motile bacteria. We demonstrated that free energy input at the microscopic scale from the active matter constituents brought profound changes to the phase transition dynamics of such an active glass system. Our findings may provide a means to control material properties relevant to the transport of living matter across various length scales.