Supercooled Barium Boric Oxide Melts: X‐Ray Diffraction Measurements and Glass Formation

Abstract

It is well‐known that oxide melts easily form a glass state from a supercooled state; however, it is difficult for some oxides to transform to the glass state from the corresponding supercooled state. β‐BaB2O4 (β‐BBO) crystals are important materials for laser applications. The β‐BBO crystal easily grows from the supercooled melt, and it is therefore difficult to form the BBO glass state. We attempted to make BBO glass by a containerless technique using the conical nozzle gas‐jet levitation (CNL) method. We were successful in making BBO glass with a diameter of 2 mm from a highly supercooled melt without rapid quenching. In order to clarify the phase selection mechanism of the BBO melt, we performed high‐energy X‐ray (113.6 keV) diffraction experiments on the glassy and supercooled liquid BBO using the CNL technique at the BL04B2 beamline of SPring‐8. From these experiments, the structure factor S(Q) of BBO glasses and supercooled melts were found to have almost the same features. From these S(Q), we obtained the radial distribution function T(r)=4πrg(r). The analysis also showed that BBO glass and the BBO‐supercooled melt have the same short‐range distances. For phase selection between crystalline and glassy phases, we discuss a structure model of the BBO melt, including medium range structure based on the short‐range structure obtained in this experiment.