Preparation and properties of silica-based optical glasses containing rare-earth- and chromium-doped nano-particles

Sponsor: Czech Science Foundation

Principal investigator: Ivan Kašík, Ph.D.

Members: Jan Aubrecht, Ph.D.; Volodymyr Bobuský; Jan Boháček, Msc.; Anirban Dhar, Ph.D.; Vlastimil Matějec, Ph.D.; Jan Mrázek, Ph.D.; Jitka Pedlíková, MSc.; Pavel Peterka, Ph.D.; Ondřej Podrazký, Ph.D.; Marie Pospíšilová, Ph.D.

From: 2010-01-01

To: 2013-12-31

The project focused on methods of preparation of novel thulium-doped nano-crystalline spinels and chromium-alumina nano-particles embedded in silica matrices with the aim to enhance their fluorescence properties.

Advance in sol-gel method was reached leading to preparation of novel optical nanomaterials. These materials were based on high-temperature resistant ceramic RE₂Ti₂O₇ (RE = Tm³⁺, Er³⁺, Eu³⁺, Dy³⁺, Yb³⁺, Nd³⁺ and Y³⁺) or (Er_x-Yb_y-Y_1-x-y) ₂Ti₂O₇ nanoparticles embedded into silica or doped-silica matrices. These materials are suitable for processing in silica or silicate optical fibers and some doped fibers have been employed for investigation of Tm-doped fiber lasers.
Due to the tailored structure containing nanoparticles they exhibit enhanced luminescence properties (intensive fluorescence and longer lifetimes); they were suitable for optical cores of optical fibers.
This concept can serve as a generic approach to preparation of active fibers which can be effectively performed in fiber lasers of variety of emission wavelength in dependence on RE composition applied.

Reference:

1. J. Mrázek, L. Špaňhel, M. Surýnek, M. Potel, V. Matějec, Crystallization properties of RE-doped (RE = Eu, Er, Tm) Zn(2)TiO(4) prepared by the Sol-gel method, Journal of Alloys and Compounds 509 (2011) 4018-4024.
2. DharA., Kašík I., Dussardier B., Podrazký O., Matějec V.: Preparation and properties of Er–doped ZrO2 nanocrystalline phase-separated preforms of optical fibres by MCVD process. International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology 9 (2012) 341-348.
3. J. Mrazek, M.Surynek, S. Bakardijeva, J. Bursik, I. Kasik, V. Matejec, Synthesis and crystallization mechanism of europium-titanate Eu2Ti2O7, Journal of Crystal Growth, in print
4. P. Peterka, P. Honzátko, M. Becker, F. Todorov, M. Písařík, O. Podrazký, I. Kašík, Monolithic Tm-doped fiber laser at 1951nm with deep-UV femtosecond-laser-induced FBG pair, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters 25 (2013) 1623-1625
5. A. Dhar, I. Kašík, O. Podrazký, V. Matějec, Fabrication and properties of Er-doped nanocrystalline phase-seperated optical fibers, Electrical and Electronic Engineering 11 (2013) 29-35
6. I.Kašík, V.Matějec, O.Podrazký, P.Peterka, J.Mrázek, New trends in preparation of preforms by the MCVD method (Nové trendy v přípravě preforem metodou MCVD), Jemná mechanika a optika (Fine mechanics and optics) 55 (2010) 102-106