Photoactive glasses and glass ceramics

Glass and its properties are subject to a variety of changes for many applications. In the last years systematic studies and developments were carried out in the fields of active Nd3+ (f3), Er3+ (f11), and Yb3+ (f13) laser and amplifier glasses. Fluoride and oxide glasses with high intrinsic UV transmission were doped with luminescent species of various electronic configurations, s2: As3+Sb3+Sn2+Pb2+; d0: Ti4+Nb5+Mo6+Ta5+W6+; d10: Zn2+Ag+Cu+; d5: Mn2+; fn: Ce3+(f1), Pr3+ (f2), Sm3+ (f5), Eu3+ (f6), Eu2+ (f7), Tb3+ (f8), Dy3+ (f9), Ho3+ (f10), Er3+ (f11) and Tm3+ (f12). Static and time resolved photoluminescence behavior in the ultraviolet and visible range was investigated depending on glass matrices and concentration of luminescent species. Also the luminescence of Bi-doped glasses was studied, where the kind of the luminescent Bi-species is still unknown. Some glasses were transformed in glass ceramics by thermal treatment. A change of coordination from 6 to 4 was detected for Zn2+ and Mn2+ in the ZnO-Al2O3-SiO2 system. Luminescence intensity can be increased or decreased depending on various conditions.