Neutron diffraction by germania, silica and radiation-damaged silica glasses

Neutron diffraction patterns for vitreous germania, synthetic vitreous silica and radiation-damaged synthetic silica have been obtained to 18 Å-1. With the use of a special resolution function the results have been analysed to produce `radial distribution functions' free of truncation error ripples. The function for vitreous germania shows considerable improvement on previous x-ray measurements. Evidence for the concept of ordered groups of molecules in the glass is obtained from the radiation-damaged experiments.