Shear strength and optical bandgap in As2Se3 glasses permanently compacted under GPa pressures

The application of GPa pressures on glassy As2Se3, at temperatures just below and above its glass transition, leads to permanently compacted glasses that exhibit increased densification. Also, melt-quenching of the same glass under a pressure of 7 GPa gives rise to the formation of its crystalline β-phase. The structure of these As2Se3 compacted solids have been explored by X-ray diffraction. Measurements of 10 MHz ultrasound velocities reveal that the density increase is associated with a substantial hardening of the elastic continuum as well as a growing shear strength of glassy solids: the shear modulus G increases by more than 35 % and the Poisson's ratio ν decreases by more than 13 %. The optical properties have been investigated by UV–VIS diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, which shows a well defined linear reduction of the optical bandgap Eg with increased density. All of these observations have been explained by considering a disordered layered structure of glassy As2Se3, where densification produced by compaction under GPa pressures gives rise to a progressive strengthening of the interlayer interactions.