Photoelastic response of permanently densified oxide glasses

The stress-induced birefringence (photoelastic response) in oxide glasses has important consequences for several applications, including glass for flat panel displays, chemically strengthened cover glass, and advanced optical glasses. While the effect of composition on the photoelastic response is relatively well documented, the effect of pressure has not been systematically studied. In this work, we evaluate the effect of hot isostatic compression on the photoelastic response of ten oxide glasses within two commonly used industrial glass families: aluminosilicates and boroaluminosilicates. Hot isostatic compression generally results in decreasing modifier-oxygen bond lengths and increasing network-former coordination numbers. These structural changes should lead to an increase in the stress optic coefficient (C) according to the model of Zwanziger et al., which can successfully predict the composition and structure dependence of C. However, in compressed glasses, we observe the opposite trend, viz., a decrease in the stress optic coefficient as a result of pressurization. We discuss this result based on measured changes in refractive index and elastic moduli within the context of atomic and lattice effects, building on the pioneering work of Mueller. We propose that the pressure-induced decrease in C is a result of changes in the shear modulus due to underlying topological changes in the glass network.