Structural relaxation and optical properties in transparent nanocrystalline β-quartz glass-ceramic

• Published in: Journal of non-crystalline solids 2006-05, Vol.352 (6), p.514-518
• Main Authors: Sakamoto, Akihiko, Sato, Fumio, Yamamoto, Shigeru
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aluminosilicates; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Crystallization; Exact sciences and technology; Glass-ceramics; Nanocrystals; Nanoparticles, colloids and quantum structures; Optical properties; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of bulk materials and thin films; Oxide glasses; Physics; Silicates
• ISSN: 0022-3093; 1873-4812
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2005.11.061

We studied structural relaxation in a nanocrystalline β-quartz solid solution (s.s.) glass-ceramic through density measurement, and the effect of structural relaxation on its optical properties. The density of the glass-ceramic changed as structural relaxation proceeded in the glass phase. It was found that the glass-ceramic whose glass phase has a high fictive temperature shows a high optical transmittance because of less optical scattering. We also demonstrated that the refractive index difference between the crystal and glass phases can be calculated from the scattering coefficients of the specimens with different fictive temperatures. The calculated refractive index of the crystalline phase was in fair agreement with the indices of a high-quartz crystal.