Mean coordination and topological constraints in chalcogenide network glasses

This chapter discusses the general ideas of mean coordination and topological constraints that have been successfully applied to chalcogenide glasses in the last few decades. The chapter first reviews the basic principles of mean coordination and the early discovery of the rigidity percolation theory. Experimental confirmations are presented along with the limitations of the model stemming from the ideal network assumption. Modification of the model are reviewed and critically discussed. The chapter then presents recent modeling advances accounting for the temperature dependence of topological constraints.