Effect of Nd~(3+) on the Properties of Lithium Niobium Borate Crystal and Glass

摘要

1 mol% of neodymium-doped lithium niobium borate (NdLNB) glass and crystal have been produced by using melt-quenching and Czochralski technique, respectively. The synthesis, growth and characterizations of the samples were reported. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Differential thermal analyzer (DTA), Ultraviolet-Visible-Near-Infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopic characterizations were made to examine the influence of Nd~(3+) on the physical, structural and optical properties of the samples. Various physical properties such as density, molar volume, ion concentration, polaron radius, inter-nuclear distance and field strength were calculated. The as-quenched glass was amorphous whereas crystal was crystalline as established via XRD studies. UV-Vis-NIR spectra exhibited eight prominent bands centered at 353, 475, 524, 583, 681, 745, 803, 875 nm corresponding to the transitions from the ground state to ~4D_(3/2), ~2G_(9/2), ~4G_(7/2), ~4G_(5/2), ~4F_(9/2), ~4F_(7/2), ~4F_(5/2), ~4F_(3/2) excited states, respectively. Moreover, the emission spectra at 355 nm excitation displayed several peaks that contributed to the transition of (~4F_(3/2)→~4I_(9/2)) and (~4F_(3/2)→~4I_(11/2)), respectively. Fluorescence lifetime was recorded at 53.69 μs for the glass whereas the crystal was recorded at 43.62 μs. It was found that Nd~(3+) ions affected the physical, structural and optical properties of the glass and crystal samples.