Optical scattering in glass-ceramics.

Maurizio Mattarelli (1) , Maurizio Montagna (2) , Paolo Verrocchio (3)

1 Department of Physics
2 Physics Department
3 Department of Physics

The transparency of glass-ceramics with nanocrystals is generally higher than that expected from the theory of Rayleigh scattering. We attribute this ultra-transparency to the spatial correlation of the nanoparticles. The structure factor is calculated for a simple model system, the random sequential addition (RSA) of equal spheres, at different volume filling factor. The spatial correlation given by the constraint that particles cannot superimpose produces a diffraction peak with a low S(q) in its low-q tail, which is relevant for light scattering. The physical mechanism producing high transparency in glass-ceramics is demonstrated to be the low density fluctuation in the number of scatterers. The addition of a size distribution of the spherical particles produces important changes in the q-dependence of the scattering intensity in the region of the diffraction peak, but it has minor effects on the low-q tail.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Maurizio Mattarelli, Maurizio Montagna, Paolo Verrocchio. Optical scattering in glass-ceramics.. Philosophical Magazine, 2008, 88 (33-35), pp.4125-4130. ⟨10.1080/14786430802555722⟩. ⟨hal-00513986⟩