Energy and topology dependence of the metamict transformation in glasses

We aim to improve our understanding of the connection between the network rigidity and the metamict transformation induced in glasses by intense X-ray beams by studying this structural and dynamical transition in three canonical glasses: SiO2, GeO2 and P2O5. We want to address two issues: i) the quantitative relationship between the absorbed dose and the network rigidity; ii) the energy dependence of the radiolitic process at the basis of the X-rays induced defect creation mechanism.