Origin of Rayleigh scattering and anomaly of elastic properties in vitreous and molten GeO2

Vitreous (v) and molten (m) GeO₂ were studied by Rayleigh and Mandel’shtam–Brillouin scattering spectroscopy and high-temperature acoustics. Original measurement apparatus and procedure were used that included Bayseian deconvolution of light scattering spectra of vGeO₂ and a specially designed high-temperature (up to 1500 °C) acoustic interferometer to measure temperature and frequency dependence of ultrasonic (US) velocity and attenuation in mGeO₂. Landau–Placzek ratios for vGeO₂ were found optically (from the light scattering spectrum) and acoustically (through the Schroeder’s formalism). Dispersion of optical and other physical parameters of vGeO₂ found by many authors is explained by the existence of small amount of GeO in the samples. It means that properties of vGeO₂ are under the influence of redox synthesis conditions controlling the GeO₂ ↔ GeO and coordination GeO₄] ↔ GeO₆] equilibrium in vGeO₂. Measurements of temperature dependencies of longitudinal ultrasonic velocities in mGeO₂ and in the PbO–GeO₂ glass melts as a function of PbO concentration shows existence of ‘water-like anomaly’ in mGeO₂ and in liquid germanates with the rich content of GeO₂ where equilibrium sound velocity increases with the temperature.