Structure of liquid and glassy ZnCl2

The method of isotope substitution in neutron diffraction was used to measure the structure of liquid ZnCl2 at 332(5)?°C and glassy ZnCl2 at 25(1)?°C. The partial structure factors were obtained from the measured diffraction patterns by using the method of singular value decomposition and by using the reverse Monte Carlo procedure. The partial structure factors reproduce the diffraction patterns measured by high-energy x-ray diffraction once a correction for the resolution function of the neutron diffractometer has been made. The results show that the predominant structural motif in both phases is the corner sharing ZnCl4 tetrahedron and that there is a small number of edge-sharing configurations, these being more abundant in the liquid. The tetrahedra organize on an intermediate length scale to give a first sharp diffraction peak in the measured diffraction patterns at a scattering vector kFSDP?1 Å-1 that is most prominent for the Zn-Zn correlations. The results support the notion that the relative fragility of tetrahedral glass forming MX2 liquids is related to the occurrence of edge-sharing units.

Structure of glassy GeO2

The full set of partial structure factors for glassy germania, or GeO2, were accurately measured by using the method of isotopic substitution in neutron diffraction in order to elucidate the nature of the pair correlations for this archetypal strong glass former. The results show that the basic tetrahedral Ge(O-1/2)(4) building blocks share corners with a mean inter-tetrahedral Ge-O-Ge bond angle of 132(2)degrees. The topological and chemical ordering in the resultant network displays two characteristic length scales at distances greater than the nearest neighbour. One of these describes the intermediate range order, and manifests itself by the appearance of a first sharp diffraction peak in the measured diffraction patterns at a scattering vector k(FSDP) approximate to 1.53 angstrom(-1), while the other describes so-called extended range order, and is associated with the principal peak at k(PP) = 2.66( 1) angstrom(-1). We find that there is an interplay between the relative importance of the ordering on these length scales for tetrahedral network forming glasses that is dominated by the extended range ordering with increasing glass fragility. The measured partial structure factors for glassy GeO2 are used to reproduce the total structure factor measured by using high energy x-ray diffraction and the experimental results are also compared to those obtained by using classical and first principles molecular dynamics simulations.

Topological versus chemical ordering in network glasses at intermediate and extended length scales

Atomic ordering in network glasses on length scales longer than nearest-neighbour length scales has long been a source of controversy(1-6). Detailed experimental information is therefore necessary to understand both the network properties and the fundamentals of glass formation. Here we address the problem by investigating topological and chemical ordering in structurally disordered AX2 systems by applying the method of isotopic substitution in neutron diffraction to glassy ZnCl2. This system may be regarded as a prototypical ionic network forming glass, provided that ion polarization effects are taken into account(7), and has thus been the focus of much attention(8-14). By experiment, we show that both the topological and chemical ordering are described by two length scales at distances greater than nearest-neighbour length scales. One of these is associated with the intermediate range, as manifested by the appearance in the measured diffraction patterns of a first sharp diffraction peak at 1.09( 3) angstrom(-1); the other is associated with an extended range, which shows ordering in the glass out to 62( 4) angstrom. We also find that these general features are characteristic of glassy GeSe2, a prototypical covalently bonded network material(15,16). The results therefore offer structural insight into those length scales that determine many important aspects of supercooled liquid and glass phenomenology(11).

Broadly tunable quantum-dot based ultra-short pulse laser system with different diffraction grating orders

A broadly tunable quantum-dot based ultra-short pulse master oscillator power amplifier with different diffraction grating orders as an external-cavity resonance feedback is studied. A broader tuning range, narrower optical spectra as well as higher peak power spectal density (maximun of 1.37 W/nm) from the second-order diffraction beam are achieved compared to those from the first-order diffraction beam in spite of slightly broader pulse duration from the secondorder diffraction. © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2013.

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

The role of the Sm3+ ions in the structure of vitreous Sm2O3•4P2O5 has been investigated using the neutron diffraction anomalous dispersion technique, which employs the wavelength dependence of the real and imaginary parts of the neutron scattering length close to an absorption resonance. The data described here represent the first successful complete neutron anomalous dispersion study on an amorphous material. This experimental methodology permits one to determine exclusively the closest Sm• •• Sm separation. Knowledge of the R•••R (R = rare-earth) pairwise correlation is key to understanding the optical and magnetic properties of rare-earth phosphate glasses. The anomalous difference correlation function, ΔT''(r), shows a dominant feature pertaining to a Sm•••Sm separation, centred at 4.8 Å. The substantial width and marked asymmetry of this peak indicates that the minimum approach of Sm3+ ions could be as close as 4 Å. Information on other pairwise correlations is also revealed via analysis of T (r) and ΔT (r) correlation functions: Sm3+ ions display an average co-ordination number, n Sm(O), of 7, with a mean Sm–O bond length of 2.375(5) Å whilst the PO4 tetrahedra have a mean P–O bond length of 1.538(2) Å. Second- and third-neighbour correlations are also identified. These results corroborate previous findings. Such consistency lends support to the application of the anomalous dispersion technique to determine separations.