ABSTRACT
Single crystals of YAl3(BO3)4 doped with 1 and 10% Pr3+ were grown by spontaneous nucleation from a K2Mo3O10 and B2O3 flux. Polarised absorption and luminescence spectra in the visible, near infrared and infrared ranges were recorded at room and low temperatures on ground and polished samples of about 1 mm thickness. The microsymmetry of the Pr3+ sites is D3. The observed transitions were assigned and analysed on the basis of the selection rules for the D3 point group. A set of free ion and crystal field parameters in reasonable agreement with the observed energy level structure is reported. The possible applications of the material in the field of optical devices are considered.
Subject(s)
Aluminum/chemistry , Borates/chemistry , Crystallography, X-Ray/methods , Spectrophotometry/methods , Yttrium/chemistry , Luminescence , Optical Devices , Temperature , ThermodynamicsABSTRACT
Two glasses doped with 1 mol% Nd2O3 and batch compositions inside the miscibility gap of the ternary Na2O-B2O3-SiO2 system were prepared by rapid quenching of the 1,400 degrees C melts. Phase separation was induced by heat-treatment at 600 degrees C for different exposure times and monitored qualitatively by an observation of Rayleigh scattering. The 4I(9/2-->P(1/2) transition of Nd3+ around 23300 cm(-1) recorded for the quenched samples without heat-treatment was used to demonstrate that submicroscopic phase separation in the doped glasses occurs instantaneously upon quenching. The effect of the Nd3+ concentration on this submicroscopic phase separation was investigated.
