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)