Professor John M Parker
MA PhD FIMMM CEng FSGT
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Emeritus Professor of Glass Science and Engineering
+44 114 222 5514
Full contact details
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
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John Parker moved to Sheffield from the University of Cambridge in 1971, having completed a first-class MA in Natural Sciences, a PhD and a post-doctoral NERC fellowship studying aluminosilicates with incommensurate structures. At Sheffield, he has developed interests in both the optical/structural properties of glasses and the technology of bulk glass making. He is actively involved in the International Commission on Glass and is past-president of both the Society of Glass Technology and the European Society of Glass Science and Technology.
- Research interests
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My key current interests are in glass structural analysis, particularly using information derived by optical spectroscopy, and the processes involved in glass crystallisation. Such interests support a project to predict optical spectra based on a knowledge of glass composition, for example for optical filter design; this approach has generated a study of colour control in relation to glass recycling, and the manufacture of low-cost UV opaque materials for containers that better protect their contents. It also led to work on coloured pigments for a variety of applications, and a study the art of glass staining in relation to the restoration of historic artefacts.
Optically active glasses also present many interesting challenges. For example, powder diffraction techniques using both synchrotron (Daresbury) and neutron (CERN) sources, combined with transmission electron microscopy and optical spectroscopy, have been used to study quantum dot development in silicate glasses, and the manufacture of transparent glass-ceramics, in which the precipitated crystalline phase contains an optically active dopant ion e.g. Cr3+:ZnAl2O4 and Er3+:CaF2. Such materials find applications as optical switches, amplifiers, up-converters and photon detectors. A potentially new area of interest is in encryption technologies.
My background in mineralogy has also led to a long-term study of crystalline defects in bulk glass manufacture, many of which arise during melting. This has created extensive industrial interactions and an interest in glass melting reactions; it culminated in the production of a monograph concerning defect identification which is still widely used in the glass industry. I have also worked on the development and characterisation of novel glasses for highly transparent optical fibres based on chalcogenides, fluorides and other halide ions. This has involved studies of glass stability and an identification of sources of defects, as well as an extensive study of the optical spectroscopy of impurity transition metal and rare-earth ions.
Throughout my career, I have worked closely with industry, including organisations such as British Telecom, Pilkingtons, Johnson Matthey, and Rockware Glass. I have also interacted with the Physics Departments at Sheffield, Brunel and Paisley, and with the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories.
Research group
Dr T Volotinen
Dr A Richardson
Mr P Hinder
Mr I HickmanResearch centres
Key projects
- 2004 GTS (WRAP) Maximising Cullet Additions in the Glass Container Industry 2yr £25000
- 2004 KTP Development of pigments for paints 4yr £194000
- 2004 Framework 6 European Forum on New Glass Applications 3yr €75000
- 2005 GTS (WRAP) Recycling contaminated glass 18m £25000
- 2006 GTS (WRAP) Light protection of wine 18m £30500
- 2006 KTP Lead free glaze development 2yr £115816
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Glass, optics and IYOG: opinion. Optical Materials Express, 12(8), 2938-2938.
- 'II drink a glass to that. Glass International, 44(7), 66.
- Prof. John Parker As flat as a pancake. Glass International, 44(5), 75.
- Reflection loss correction method for accurate absorbance spectrum analysis of coloured glasses. Physics and Chemistry of Glasses: European Journal of Glass Science and Technology Part B, 60(4), 157-169.
- Well rounded. Glass International, 39(5), 38-38.
- A tale of endurance. Glass International, 39(2), 39.
- Scintillation from Eu2+in Nanocrystallized Glass. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 92(9), 2119-2121.
- Concentrations and site partitioning of Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions in a soda-lime-silica glass obtained by optical absorbance spectroscopy. Physics and Chemistry of Glasses: European Journal of Glass Science and Technology Part B, 49(5), 258-270.
- Terbium-activated heavy scintillating glasses. Journal of Luminescence, 128(1), 99-104. View this article in WRRO
- Eu3+-activated heavy scintillating glasses. Materials Research Bulletin, 43(6), 1502-1508.
- Local structure and medium range ordering of tetrahedrally coordinated Fe3+ ions in alkali–alkaline earth–silica glasses. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 353(24-25), 2479-2494.
- Soda lime zirconia silicate glasses as prospective hosts for zirconia-containing radioactive wastes. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 351(8-9), 623-631.
- Novel structural behaviour of iron in alkali–alkaline-earth–silica glasses. Comptes Rendus Chimie, 5(11), 787-796.
- Eu2+ ions and CaF2-containing transparent glass-ceramics. Materials Research Bulletin, 37(11), 1843-1849.
- The structure of aluminate glasses by neutron diffraction. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 274(1-3), 102-109.
- Floppy modes and the Boson peak in crystalline and amorphous silicates: an inelastic neutron scattering study. Mineralogical Magazine, 64(3), 435-440.
- Learning by degrees. Glass Technology, 41(4), 112-115.
- Investigation into the effects of indium, and the purity of precursor materials on the scintillation yield of cerium-doped heavy metal fluoride glasses for electromagnetic calorimetry in particle physics. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 256-257, 42-47.
- Optical and physical characteristics of HBLAN fluoride glasses containing cerium. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 244(2-3), 197-204.
- On the wave vector dependence of the Boson peak in silicate glasses and crystals. Physica B: Condensed Matter, 263-264, 357-360.
- Redox states of iron in heavy metal fluoride glasses. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 256-257, 48-52.
- Neutron diffraction analysis of the atomic short range order in lead gallate glasses. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 232-234, 51-58.
- Time-resolved studies of emission properties of cerium-doped fluoro-hafnate glasses under VUV synchrotron radiation excitation. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 405(2-3), 418-422.
- The development of dense scintillating hafnium fluoride glasses for the construction of homogeneous calorimeters in particle physics. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 213-214, 147-151.
- The effect of composition in lead gallate glasses: a structural study. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 196, 187-192.
- Some recent developments in glasses for nonlinear optics. International Journal of Electronics, 76(5), 849-856.
- Concentration dependence of nonresonant nonlinearity in CdS/sub x/Se/sub 1-x/ doped glasses. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 6(8), 1017-1019.
- Upconversion in neodymium doped fluoride glasses. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 161, 235-240.
- The structure of alkali silicate glasses. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 150(1-3), 97-102.
- Thermal Mismatch Stresses In Fluoride Glass Fibres. Infrared Fiber Optics.
- Spectroscopy of U3+in fluoride glasses. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 1(44), 8753-8758.
- Quantum size effects in a heat-treated CdSe-doped glass. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 112(1-3), 277-281.
- Effect of refractive index modifiers on the thermal expansion coefficient of fluoride glasses. Physics and Chemistry of Glasses, 30(6), 205-210.
- Molecular dynamics simulations of halide glasses. Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design, 3(4), 327-334.
- Viscosity models for fluorozirconate and fluoroaluminate glasses. Physics and Chemistry of Glasses, 30(6), 220-228.
- Formation of far infrared transmitting AgI-CsI glasses. Physics and Chemistry of Glasses, 30(6), 254-259.
- Kinetic study of growth of Cd(S,Se) microcrystals in a glass matrix. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 21(10S), S82-S84.
- Quantum size effects in heat treated, Cd(S, Se) doped glasses. Materials Letters, 6(7), 233-237.
- CRYSTALLISATION OF ZrF//4-BaF//2-NaF-AlF//3-LaF//3 GLASSES.. Physics and Chemistry of Glasses, 28(1), 4-10.
- CRYSTALLISATION OF ZrF//4-BaF//2-NaF GLASSES.. Physics and Chemistry of Glasses, 27(6), 219-227.
4 volatilisation from an oxide glass melt.. Kinetics and Mass Transport in Silicate and Oxide Systems, 297-306.
Model study of SiF- OH-absorption in fluoride glass infra-red fibres. Electronics Letters, 20(14), 607-607.
- A double helical model for some alkali metal ion-poly(ethylene oxide) complexes. Polymer, 22(10), 1305-1307.
- A new compound in the Ge-Te system. Journal of Materials Science, 13(5), 1127-1130.
- Complexes of alkali metal ions with poly(ethylene oxide). Polymer, 14(11), 589-589.
- Inorganic glasses and their interactions with light. Review of Progress in Coloration and Related Topics, 34(1), 26-38.
- Floppy Modes in Crystalline and Amorphous Silicates. Physical Review Letters, 78(6), 1070-1073.
Chapters
- The International Commission on Glass (ICG) (pp. 1219-1229). Wiley
- Stained Glass Windows (pp. 1341-1359). Wiley
- Glasses, Encyclopedia of Condensed Matter Physics (pp. 273-280). Elsevier
- Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Fluorozirconate Glass Structure, Halide Glasses for Infrared Fiberoptics (pp. 119-137). Springer Netherlands
Conference proceedings papers
- Glass melting SGT glass training day lucideon, stoke-on-trent. Glass Technology: European Journal of Glass Science and Technology Part A, Vol. 2016-June (pp 1-29)
- Burning issues. Glass Technology: European Journal of Glass Science and Technology Part A, Vol. 2016-June (pp 1-43)
2 O3 -ZrO2 glasses. Glass Technology, Vol. 45(2) (pp 101-104)
Opacification of ZnO-B- Compositional dependence of scintillation yield of glasses with high Gd 2 O 3 concentrations. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Vol. 326-327 (pp 335-338)
- Initial studies into the viability of using co-dopants in inorganic glass scintillators to develop a scintillating glass for applications in particle physics experiments. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 486(1-2) (pp 303-308)
- Redox and clustering of iron in silicate glasses. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Vol. 253(1-3) (pp 203-209)