Vol. 42, Issue 2, pp. 353-364 (2012)

Abstract

A neodymium (Nd³⁺) doped oxyfluoride glass ceramics containing SrF₂, LaF₃ nanocrystals has been presented. Transparent glass ceramics was obtained by heat treating the glass from the SiO₂–Al₂O₃–ZnO–Na₂O–SrF₂ and SiO₂–Al₂O₃–ZnF₂–Na₂O–LaF₃ system at the first crystal-lization temperature. Cerammization of glass was studied by DTA/DSC, XRD. It has been found that nanocrystallization of SrF₂ and LaF₃ strongly depends on the ratio between the components and the amount of SrF₂ and LaF₃, respectively. The optical studies of the glasses comprised spectrophotometry (reflectance and transmittance) and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The spectrophotometric measurements yield a number of narrow absorption bands which correspond to characteristic transitions between the ground- and consecutive excited states of rare earth ions. Growth luminescence at typical neodymium wavelength was observed under diode laser (808 nm) excitation in glass ceramics with SrF₂ in comparison to parent glass. The optimization of cerammization process allowed to fabricate the oxyfluoride glass ceramics optical fibre with strong emission originated from Nd³⁺ ions. The influence of the cerammization process on the changes in the refractive index of glass was examined.