3.071 | Spring 2025 | Undergraduate

Amorphous Materials

Course Description

This course examines the science and engineering of amorphous materials, with emphasis on the nature of the amorphous state, glass formation, structure, processing, properties, and applications. Topics include fundamentals of the amorphous state, classes of amorphous materials, glass-forming theories, phase-change …
This course examines the science and engineering of amorphous materials, with emphasis on the nature of the amorphous state, glass formation, structure, processing, properties, and applications. Topics include fundamentals of the amorphous state, classes of amorphous materials, glass-forming theories, phase-change materials, viscosity, shaping, relaxation, mechanical behavior, strengthening, metallic glasses, electrical transport, amorphous silicon, optical properties, optical fibers and waveguides, characterization methods, and a student-selected special-topic lecture.
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Lecture Notes
Lecture Videos
Projects
Abstract close-up of many glowing blue and white light rods hanging at different lengths against a dark background, seen from below.
Optical fibers use amorphous materials like glass, whose atoms form a random network rather than a repeating crystal lattice. This disorder lets fibers carry light over long distances with minimal loss, but it also limits how low that loss can be. (Image is in the public domain.)