Heavy metal glasses and transparent glass-ceramics : preparation, local structure and optical properties

Abstract

Heavy metal oxide and oxyfluoride lead silicate glasses doped with rare-earth ions were prepared. Next, they were heat treated in order to obtain transparent glass-ceramics. The rare-earths as optically active ions were limited to trivalent Eu3+ and Dy3+. Correlation between the local structure and the luminescence properties of Eu3+ and Dy3+ ions in the studied glass and glass-ceramic systems was examined using X-ray diffraction, FT-IR and optical measurements. Especially, the ratio of integrated emission intensity of the 5D0–7F2 transition to that of the 5D0–7F1 transition of Eu3+, defined as the luminescence intensity ratio R (Eu3+) as well as the ratio of integrated emission intensity of the 4F9/2–6H13/2 transition to that of the 4F9/2–6H15/2 transition of Dy3+, defined as the luminescence intensity ratio Y/B (Dy3+), have been analyzed in details. Their values are reduced due to part incorporation of rare-earth ions into cubic β -PbF2 crystalline phase. The excitation and luminescence spectra of rare-earth ions in glass samples before and after heat treatment are presented and discussed in relation to potential application in optoelectronics.