Review: the structure of simple phosphate glasses

Recent developments of phosphate glasses for a variety of technological app lications, from rare-earth ion hosts for solid state lasers to low temperat ure sealing glasses, have led to renewed interest in understanding the stru ctures of these unusual materials. In this review, spectroscopic and diffra ction studies of simple phosphate glasses, including v-P2O5 and binary phos phate compositions, are described. Special attention is given to the struct ures of anhydrous ultra-phosphate glasses, which have received close attent ion from the glass community only in the past six years. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.