Anomalies in light scattering by glass-ceramics of the zinc aluminum silicate system, caused by low nickel oxide doping

It is experimentally shown that low nickel oxide doping (0.01-0.15 mol. %) can quantitatively and qualitatively alter the light-scattering properties of glass-ceramics that have zinc spinel as the base crystalline phase. Based on experimental data concerning the structure of the glass-ceramics studied here, it is concluded that the observed character of the light scattering cannot be explained on the basis of the independent-scatterer model and that interference effects need to be taken into account in the scattering. It is shown that interference effects can play a defining role in the case of a system of particles that strongly differ in their scattering properties. It is illustrated that the properties of glass-ceramics can be significantly altered by introducing small amounts of dopants. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America.