Glass Reflections
Cambridge 7th to 9th September
Presenting Author:
Emma Barney
<emma.barney@nottingham.ac.uk>
article posted 24 Mar 2015
Emma Barney
Dr Emma Barney is an assistant professor in the department of Mechanical, Materials and
Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Nottingham. Emma completed her PhD
in Physics at the University of Warwick in 2008, with a thesis entitled "The structural Role
of Lone-pair Ions in Glass". This studentship investigated the interaction of heavy metal
ions, such as tellurium and lead, with traditional glass networks such as borates and aluminates.
The research was part funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and,
upon completion, Emma was employed by STFC as an instrument scientist for the GeM
diffractometer at the ISIS Pulsed Neutron and Muon Source (2008-2011). In 2011, Emma
was awarded a 2 year Nottingham Advanced Research (NAR) Fellowship at the
University of Nottingham. The focus of this fellowship was to apply her understanding
of lone pair ions in glass to technologically relevant arsenic based mid-infrared (mid-IR)
optical glasses. At the end of the fellowship, Emma was appointed as a Lecturer in the
Faculty of Engineering.
Structure-property relationships in antimony based chalcogenide glasses
Emma Barney, Jessica Butterworth, James Towey,
David Furniss and Angela Seddon
Advanced Materials Research Group, Faculty of Engineering,
University of Nottingham NG7 2RD
email address: <emma.barney@nottingham.ac.uk>
The molecules in biological tissue strongly absorb specific light frequencies within the
mid-infrared (IR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum, 3-25μm wavelength.
These absorptions can be used as "molecular fingerprints" to generate spectral maps
of tissue and provide information about the absence or existence of disease, potentially
in real-time and in vivo. Unfortunately, to utilise this technique requires bright mid-IR
broadband sources that are not currently available. Researchers are the University of
Nottingham are currently developing new antimony based chalcogenide glasses for
optical fibres to provide the required light spectra.
This paper will report the structure of a series of stoichiometric and selenium rich
Sb-Ge-Se glasses using a combination of neutron and X-ray total scattering, Raman
Spectroscopy and
77Se NMR. Basic functional properties including
density and glass transition temperature, T
g, have also been measured.
It has been determined that density and T
g vary linearly with composition
in the stoichiometric series, but have a non-linear variation with composition as
additional selenium is added to the glass. The potential structural origins for these
observed trends will be discussed.