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Rare-earth phosphate glasses

These glasses exhibit a plethora of attractive optical, opto-acoustic and magnetic properties, these originating from the highly disordered structural arrangement of rare-earth ions within a phosphate network. A host of complementary experimental structural techniques are employed to piece together their average structure. Reverse Monte-Carlo type simulations are also used since they bring together the pieces of information to produce a united structural model.

Crystalline analogues are of substantial structural interest on account of their propensity to be polymorphic. A related program in understanding this polymorphism is also underway.

Selected publications

  • J. M. Cole, R. J. Newport

    Direct observation of the R...R separation in rare-earth phosphate glasses

    Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids 2007, 353, 1773–1778

  • J. M. Cole, A. C. Wright, R. J. Newport, C.E. Fisher, S. J. Clarke, R. N. Sinclair, H. E. Fisher, G. J. Cuello

    The structure of the rare-earth phosphate glass (Sm2O3)0.205(P2O5)0.795 studied by anomalous dispersion neutron diffraction

    Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 2007, 19, 056002(1–12)

  • J. M. Cole, A. C. Hannon, R. A. Martin, R. J. Newport

    Direct observation of R...R distances in rare-earth (R) phosphate glasses by magnetic difference neutron diffraction

    Physical Review B 2006, 73, 104210(1–5)

The crystal structure of cerium catena-polyphosphate, showing a helical polyphosphate chain (tan) running along the c axis with a period of six tetrahedra.