Pressure-induced transformations in glasses

The double-well potential model, well known to describe many low-temperature properties of amorphous materials, has been extended to incorporate effects of high pressures. The resulting model not only explains the temperature and time dependences of pressure-induced phenomena but also provides possible explanations for thermal annealing effects as well as irradiation compaction. The results of Brillouin-light-scattering experiments designed to test various predictions of the model are presented: good agreement is obtained