Nd3+-doped oxyfluoride glass ceramics optical fibre with SrF2 nanocrystals

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.