Molecular diffusion of oxygen and water in amorphous silica: Role of basal dislocations

Enlarged channels in the c direction of α-quartz arising from edge dislocations have been shown to give rise to easy diffusion paths for oxygen-containing molecules. It is demonstrated here that much closer agreement with diffusion experiments in fused silica is obtained for channels in basal dislocations, which could be equally typical of channels in amorphous silica.