Far-infrared spectra of alkali germanate glasses and correlation with electrical conductivity

Dispersion, ionic bonding and vibrational shifts in phospho-aluminosilicate glasses

Understanding the relationships between structure and properties of aluminosilicate glasses is of interest in magmatic studies as well as for glass applications as mechanical or optical components. Glass properties may be tailored by the incorporation of additional elements, and here we studied the effect of phosphate incorporation on refractive index and the degree of ionic bonding in aluminosilicate glasses. The studied glasses in the system SiO2-Al2O3-Na2O-P2O5 had a metaluminous composition (Al:Na = 1) with the content of SiO2 ranging from 50 to 70 mol% and of P2O5 from 0 to 7.5 mol%. Refractive index was measured at four wavelengths from visible to near-infrared and found to decrease both with increasing P2O5 content (at the expense of NaAlO2) and with increasing SiO2 content (by substitution of SiO4 for AlO4 groups). This trend correlated with a decrease in density while, additionally, the formation of Al-O-P bonds with an SiO2-like structure may account for this change. The degree of ionic bonding, assessed via optical basicity and oxygen polarisability, decreased with increasing P2O5 and SiO2 content. Despite the complexity of the studied glasses, oxygen polarisability and optical basicity were found to follow Duffy's empirical equation for simple oxide glasses. In the high frequency infrared and Raman spectra, band shifts were observed with increasing P2O5 and SiO2 content. They indicated changing average bond strength of the glass network and showed a linear correlation with optical basicity.

Structure and optical properties of amorphous lead-germanate films developed by pulsed-laser deposition

Lead-germanate materials are attractive systems for photonics applications. In this context, amorphous lead-germanate films were grown by pulsed-laser deposition at different substrate temperatures and oxygen pressures using a glassy target of composition 0.4PbO-0.6GeO(2). Optical and infrared measurements showed that the substrate temperature has a strong influence on the optical quality and stability of the deposited films. An accurate characterization of films was achieved by comparing experimental and simulated transmittance spectra in the infrared, and allowed to probe the structural evolution and variations in composition as a function of oxygen pressure. The results showed that the difference in reactivity of lead and germanium toward oxygen in the laser-produced plasma allows for composition adjustments in the lead-germanate films by varying the oxygen pressure in the deposition chamber.

Atomistic Origin of Germanate Anomaly in GeO2 and Na-Germanate Glasses: Insights from Two-Dimensional 17O NMR and Quantum Chemical Calculations

The prominent problem in archetypal germanate glasses is the germanate anomaly where the density exhibits maxima at 15-20 mol % of the alkali oxide content. Here we report (17)O two-dimensional NMR spectra for GeO(2) and Na-germanate glasses where the presence of both bridging oxygen linking ([4])Ge and highly coordinated Ge (([5,6])Ge-O-([4])Ge) and nonbridging oxygen, and an increase in topological disorder are demonstrated at the density maximum, manifesting atomic origins of the anomaly. These densification mechanisms in germanate glasses with Na content are remarkably similar to densification in v-B(2)O(3) with pressure.

Glass structure and ion dynamics of lead–cadmium fluorgermanate glasses

Glass structure and fluorine motion dynamics are investigated in lead-cadmium fluorgermanate glasses by means of differential scanning calorimetry, Raman scattering, x-ray absorption (EXAFS), electrical conductivity (EC), and (19)F nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. Glasses with composition 60PbGeO(3)-xPbF(2)-yCdF(2) (in mol %), with x+y=40 and x=10, 20, 30, 40, are studied. Addition of metal fluorides to the base PbGeO(3) glass leads to a decrease of the glass transition temperature (T(g)) and to an enhancement of the ionic conductivity properties. Raman and EXAFS data analysis suggest that metagermanate chains form the basic structural feature of these glasses. The NMR study leads to the conclusion that the F-F distances are similar to those found in pure crystalline phases. Experimental results suggest the existence of a heterogeneous glass structure at the molecular scale, which can be described by fluorine rich regions permeating the metagermanate chains. The temperature dependence of the NMR line shapes and relaxation times exhibits the qualitative and quantitative features associated with the high fluorine mobility in these systems.