New Optical Materials based on Rare Earth Doped Oxyfluoride Glasses and Ceramics: Structural Studies by Magnetic Resonance Methods

Basic data for this project

Description

The development of novel high optical quality rare earth ion doped crystals, glasses and ceramics as solid state laser materials presents an active area of current materials research. To facilitate the design of materials with optimized emission properties, detailed structural information at the atomic level is essential, regarding the local bonding environment (siting) of the rare earth ions, their second-nearest coordination sphere, and their extent of local clustering, as well as the distribution over separate micro- or nanophases in composite materials. In this project, we seek a fundamental understanding of the spectroscopic and photophysical properties of such material systems on a structural basis, combining NMR and EPR as structural tools. The systems studied are glasses based on fluoroaluminate, fluoride phosphate and fluoride tellurite compositions. To this end a comprehensive solid state NMR and EPR strategy will be developed and applied for characterizing the local environment of the emitter ions. The structural information obtained by these approaches and its correlation with the optical materials properties will be important for developing new design strategies for high power laser materials.