Neutron diffraction measurements of the structure of an orthosilicate glass: MgSiO

Weber, J. K. R.*; Tangeman, J. A.*; Key, T. S.*; Loong, C.-K.*; Takeuchi, Ken*; Suzuya, Kentaro

The structure of olivine-composition glasses is of considerable interest in both geology and glass-science. Olivine is one of the most common minerals in the Earth's upper mantle, and properties of olivine-rich melts are relevant to a variety of petrologic problems. Despite their prevalence and novelty, such glasses has not been studied thoroughly due to difficulties associated with their synthesis. Recently, Weber et al successfully prepared bulk olivine glass with the forsterite-composition MgSiO using a containerless technique and initiated a neutron-diffraction investigation of the short-range structure of the glass. In this study, we present a result of the pulsed neutron diffraction experiment on the forsterite-composition glass. The neutron diffraction analysis suggests that highly distorted MgO polyhedra are the major networking structural units in the forsterite-composition glass.